08 03 14	R.O. 209.91.149.172
An interesting race here, but some things come to mind. First John Braid is pretty well known in that area, has been an mpp for nearby Nepean Carleton since 1995 and held a few provincial cabinet posts as well. In his recent few years in Ottawa he has held a few cabinet posts as well such as environment minister. But guess we must remember he is running for job of local mp here. Also not sure who the liberals have planned as a candidate here , most high profile options are not likely Jim Watson a local mpp and cabinet minister provincially is not likely to try federal run, former liberal mp Marlene Catterall has retired , previous liberal candidate Lee Farnworth did poorly so not sure who is left. And whoever they do choose is not going to have nearly as much time to plan a campaign as baird has had.
	08 02 25	Bernard Manning 64.230.77.82
Baird is a polarizing figure but you could never accuse him of not being WYSIWYG. The Chiarelli ram through cost him because it went North-South only. Anybody in the West-East corridor got nothing and was expected to pay for the other one! That was the end of the Major. This Riding is very well served with the existing Bus transit hubs of Lincoln Fields, Bayshore and Baseline. The whole Light Rail issue is just going to run and run. There are enough un-elected yet self-appointed public lobby groups out there to ruin anyone who goes near them. At the time, Baird was both Treasury Board banker, local MP and Harper's rottweiller to the McGuinty clan. He seems to enjoy a good fight. What did you expect him to do? Such is Ottawa. Yes, this riding used to go Liberal but only because of that Alliance-PC vote splitting thing. The Liberals just sat there and rubbed their hands with glee. Its a tough call, will be one of the tighter races, but I think his 5k majority will still be enough.
	08 02 21	Bob 99.241.76.197
John Baird is so frightened that he has started running radio ads to improve his image. Ottawa Liberals throughout the city want this scalp and there is little doubt they will enlist a star candidate to do so. The big issue in Ottawa is Baird's interference in the municipal election in 2006. Baird is accused of being in cahoots with mayor Larry O'Brien to induce another mayoralty candidate to drop out. In addition, he is in HUGE trouble due to his misrepresentation during the municipal election. Baird told Ottawa citizens that there would be ‘no penalty’ if the city cancelled the light rail contract which it had signed with Siemens. Under the project, the feds would have provided $200 million and the project would have started to address Ottawa's woeful transportation system. Well, the good folks of Ottawa have been shocked to learn that ‘No penalty’ means a $300 million lawsuit by Siemens which will have to be settled, at huge expense to Ottawa taxpayers, who are already upset about rising property taxes and poor transportation services. And all because Baird misrepresented the consequences of cancelling the project. The Liberals will pin this on Baird, and when they do, it is lights out for Baird. He has too many enemies in this city and has done absolutely nothing in his first two years to change his image as a rabble-rousing, partisan, and ineffective Minister who puts his own interests ahead of the people of Ottawa.
	07 09 11	Nick J Boragina 74.14.16.208
I still see Leadership potential for this MP, and I still see him as being able to win easily. This is indeed a very right-wing riding, partly due to the local franco-catholic brand of Liberalism found in Ottawa.
	07 04 06	A.S. 74.99.222.209
If you're talking about the pre-Chretien era, no kidding about ?swing riding?; this is where Liberal cabmin + Speaker Lloyd Francis used to alternate between ?woo-hoo!? and ?d'oh!? election after election. Baird's as much of an urban progressive as Harper's Ontario caucus gets, which points out his built-in vulnerability; after all the ballyhoo, he added less than 4 points to the '04 Tory percentage in OW-N (meanwhile, the NDP was itself the lend-me-your-vote recipient of slightly over 3 points--not all disillusioned Liberals default Tory, after all) Therefore I wouldn't recommend too much complacency--the right Liberal and the right national mood could swing this one back again. But Rusty's such an overperformer, it seems a more-than-fair likelihood that he'll be the first Conservative ever re-elected in Ottawa West...
	07 04 05	Dr Bear & Prof Ape 74.12.178.113
Being loud-mouths ourselves, we either really like or really hate other loud-mouths. Baird has shown to be one loud-mouth we particularly like (kinda a conservative, male version of Shiela Copps, whom we also really liked) and it seems his constituents like him too. Couple that with growing CPC fortunes in Ontario and a prominent cabinet position, he will probably be easily re-elected.
	07 04 04	W.B. 65.95.51.162
Baird will easily hold this riding. He has emerged as one of the most prominent members of the Conservative government. Also, despite the fire breathing conservatism of his early days at Queens Park, he seems to have matured into something of a moderate, which will go over well in this swing riding.
	07 03 29	M. Lunn 74.99.130.109
This riding generally leans Conservative and although John Baird is a controversial figure his high profile cabinet position and never mind the fact he is a potential successor of Stephen Harper should be enough to hold the riding for him. Ottawa-Orleans is probably the Liberals best chance at knocking off a Tory incumbent of the Ottawa ridings.
	07 03 25	Angry Ontarian 24.36.172.204
John Baird is one of the highest-profile Cabinet Ministers. With the 'environment' increasing on the media radar, he gets more and more publicity by the day. With CPC up in Ontario/urban support, there's no reason to believe Baird won't win re-election.