People in the political arena expect the cold winter weather will play a major role in the upcoming federal election campaign.

Less door-knocking, more online campaigning

Faced with the spectre of eight long, cold weeks of campaigning, some political organizers in Winnipeg predict a slow start to the campaign.

"I think people don't want to do nothing before Christmas, because then you're kind of losing your place," said Leslie Turnbull, who works with the NDP. "But I think that the real push will be after Christmas.

Conservative strategist Rob Godin also expects his party to roll out its campaign in stages: "With the campaign likely to be divided into two pieces, you're going to see it divided in two parts."

Greg Ashley, who works with the Liberals, expects a different campaign from the last federal election.

"I believe that we're going to a really upbeat and electronic campaign this time around," he said. "We're going to see more telephones, more internet campaigning. It'll be quite different."

Manitoba Candidates Face Long, Cold Campaign

http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/story/mb_election-20051128.html