You may have seen on the news yesterday shots of the various leadership candidates walking through a cheering crowd of people, giving the impression of an exciting, passionate political rally.  When you are here, though, you see what actually is the case: a staged, vacuous show of partisanship that quickly dies when the cameras aren't rolling.

It begins with crowd of, lets say Ignatieff (though it was also Dion and Kennedy, etc.) supporters gathering at the back of the foyer at the Palais de congrès.  Then "spontaneously" the leadership candidate will walk in and the supporters will start chanting his name, whipping up a frenzy that looks great when the cameras are rolling.  The candidate takes a leisurely stroll through the crowd, not really going anywhere, but walking with purpose.

The problem is that it is all completely and utterly staged.  When the cameras stop rolling, the cheering stops.  I even saw an Ignatieff supporter (though he was wearing an earpiece, which probably means he was much more than just a mere supporter) chasing down a boom mic operator chanting his name, just to make sure that the chants were caught on tape.

Now I understand the purpose of the photo-op.  Candidates need to build buzz and the media needs to get their b-roll shots.  But the walkabouts yesterday just highlighted to me the fact that despite claims that this candidate or that candidate is putting forward "substantial policy", there is a paucity of actual detail in the ideas being put forth here this week.  Hell, Bob Rae began his campaign by proudly proclaiming that he had no ideology - code to me for not believing anything.

Hopefully we'll get more from the candidates in their speeches Friday night.  But so far, this glorified popularity contest has been less than inspiring.