Campaign offices we have known

The federal Liberals in Saanich-Gulf Islands (whose constituency association has become the Canadian equivalent of a rotten borough) are continuing the time-honored tradition of hiding the Grit's campaign headquarters in that riding. During the 1997 election, that headquarters was located a dusty shack (we kid you not) smack dab in the middle of an isolated industrial park. And now we have learned the party's 2004 election candidate David Mulroney, a Victoria lawyer, has put his base of operations on the second floor of an office building - not the best place to attract attention or off-the-street volunteers (although we're told it has a very nice boardroom). By comparison, incumbent Conservative candidate Gary Lunn has his wholesome, almost too clean headquarters in a well-used strip mall. And New Democrat candidate Jennifer Burgis, a former provincial ministerial assistant, trumps them all, occupying an abandoned corner store (complete with an illuminated sign) near a major thoroughfare.