[BrianE]

One of my core opinions on political life is that Prime Ministers (or Presidents) do not govern in a vaccuum. Meaning that just because Harper, or Dion or Bush are technicaly "the leaders" doesn't mean that the descisions they make aren't heavily influenced by the people and advisors that they keep in their company.

Nobody, is an expert on everything and this is especialy true with politicians. I'm much more concerned about who a candidate keeps as his/her core advisors on the big issues than I am about how they started out, or what they do on their days off.