Regards,
TDL

Canadian conservatives (the voters who elected the current government) have often expressed a desire for Canada to be governed more like the US. And when the conservatives were in power they made no bones about being close to conservatives in the US. A famous example was the “Shamrock Summit” when Mulroney hosted Reagan – a love-in like that is a rare event in international relations (speaking of love-ins, how about the rumours in the press around Peter MacKay and Condie Rice recently?)

When the Liberals were bad-mouthing the US, they were mainly targeting the Bush administration. Shrilly, stupidly, I would say, but that’s politics – Liberal politicians were playing for their core constituency which is… liberal! It did not impress conservative Canucks at all. You never heard them calling Clinton a “moron”. They tend to like Dems. You’re absolutely right! Time will tell if the current crop of conservatives in government will make a slip and call a Democrat senator or perhaps one day a Dem president a stupid name. I guess it’s a matter of time before a conservative backbencher slips up. In general, it’s right to say that Canadians lean more to the left than Americans. You might say that New Englanders lean more left than US Mid-Westerners too. So this should not be really shocking.

So, now to comment on the last two points you made:
1) Yes, Canadian lefties like American lefties, generally. I also note that American lefties like American lefties.

2) Don’t feel badly for Canadian conservatives. They are in power!

3) Howard Dean does not scare normal Canadians. Why would he? Is he planning to invade Canada? Show me!

If you said he was, I might be inclined to believe you. My theory is that it’s actually to the Democrats advantage to annex Canada. I’d say Canada is worth around 50 electoral college delegates. If you made each province a state, you might get a couple of votes going republican in any given election.

Republicans, by contrast, are a safer bet for not annexing Canada.

By running large deficeits and driving up oil prices due to geopolitical instability, they seem to be good for the Canadian dollar too.

So thus far, Republicans appear to be good for Canada, and seem to be underappreciated.

I feel badly for Canadians who aren’t very liberal simply because I can imagine how difficult it is to live in Canada and still hold conservative viewpoints. I hope Howard Dean scares the bejesus out of most normal Canadians.