Dalton Trying To Get A Nose Job

We're all just Charlie Browns in Dalton's eyes

TheStar.com - living - We're all just Charlie Browns in Dalton's eyes

June 18, 2007

Linwood Barclay

Dalton McGuinty's promise earlier this month to the voters of Ontario that, if re-elected this fall, he will not raise taxes, was greeted with what you might call a tad of skepticism. A lot of people seem to recall that he promised something similar before the last election, back in 2003, and that after becoming premier did something a bit different.

That's why Dalton is looking for just the right person to sell this most recent pledge. He figures, if we won't believe it when he says it, maybe we'll believe it if someone else says it. Someone with a high profile, someone we all know and love.

That's a pretty common strategy in politics and marketing. Get a credible spokesperson. Hire someone people admire to sell something those same people may not admire so much.

So Dalton called a news conference the other day to introduce the person who'll be spreading his message between now and election day in October.

I think it's fair to say that all us media types were pretty stunned when the premier brought Lucy Van Pelt to the podium.

You probably know her better by just her first name. Lucy was, for several decades, one of the stars of the Peanuts comic strip, which was produced by the late and wonderful Charles Schulz. Since his passing, Lucy has been pretty much unemployed, losing a lot of lucrative endorsement contracts to Snoopy and Woodstock, who are seen by focus groups as much more adorable.

But Lucy still has star power, and while she's quite short, and two-dimensional, Dalton doesn't see that as a negative. Dalton pointed out that while he's not short, missing a third-dimension has never held him back.

Lucy was lightly tossing a football from one hand to the other as she took questions from reporters.

"Did you seek out the premier or did he seek out you?" I asked.