Precision campaigning ramps up with a dozen days left to voting day

OTTAWA – It’s come down to riding-by-riding, vote-by-vote.

With just 12 days left before voters casts their ballots on May 2, federal party leaders are exercising some precision campaigning while fighting off increasingly bitter attacks from their rivals.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff heads east to try to recover two former Grit ridings from the Conservatives.

Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper hits some francophone ridings in eastern Quebec and New Brunswick, among them one held by the Bloc Quebecois, another by the Liberals.

And New Democrat Jack Layton visits the Tory town of Essex, Ont., then travels to NDP country in Thunder Bay, Ont., a day after Ignatieff dropped in looking to steal the ridings away from him.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe heads south and east of Montreal, beginning the day in Farnham, Que., and ending it in Quebec City, while the Greens’ Elizabeth May continues to work her B.C. riding.

Ignatieff is in Saint John, N.B., where Tory Rodney Weston defeated Liberal Paul Zed in 2008 by just under 500 votes. This time, Deputy Mayor Stephen Chase hopes to retake it for the Liberals.

Ignatieff then travels to Yarmouth, N.S., where the Liberals hope to win West Nova back from the Conservatives. Last time, Tory Greg Kerr narrowly beat Liberal incumbent Robert Thibault – who beat Kerr in 2006 by an even narrower margin. Stay tuned for Round 3.

Meanwhile, the mud is flying.

Malicious late-night prank calls, illegal lawn-sign tampering, even a gay smear campaign – the allegations, conspiracy theories and pious denials were flying fast and thick Tuesday.

Francois Boivin, a former Liberal MP running for the New Democrats in Gatineau, Que., was spitting mad after Le Devoir newspaper suggested she’d been turfed from her old party because she helped her spouse get a Parliament Hill job.

Boivin insists the woman wasn’t her partner, just her roommate.

"That, I think for me, is the worst because I have to defend my reputation based on arguments made by people who don’t have the guts to come right here and face the consequences, right in my face," Boivin said.

In Toronto, Layton sniffed that the Boivin ruckus shows what’s wrong with federal politics.

"It’s an example of how things don’t work in Ottawa – personal attacks. When someone says, ‘This is the truth,’ I accept it."

There appeared to be multiple versions of the truth Tuesday.

In Brampton, Ont., a Liberal campaign volunteer has been charged with stealing signs from the local Conservative candidate. But Liberal incumbent Andrew Kania said the volunteer, Rachpal Singh Grewal, believes volunteers of Conservative candidate Kyle Seeback planted signs in his truck after an argument.

Earlier in the campaign, an Ottawa-area Liberal candidate had $2,000 worth of lawn signs vandalized by someone who spray-painted bull’s-eyes over his head. No one has been apprehended.

And Liberal candidates in Ontario and Manitoba say residents have been receiving harassing calls at late hours by people claiming to work for the party.

The Liberal campaign pounced on the calls, citing "Republican-style harassing phone calls" into 10 ridings by unnamed "political opponents."

The calls originate in North Dakota, according to the Liberals, who have complained to Elections Canada.