MONTREAL - The cutthroat rabble behind the curtain at the Parti Quebecois was sharpening the daggers for leader Andre Boisclair as the Quebec election campaign began.
Many people believed that Boisclair, with his reputation of a lightweight whose big-city air could turn off voters, was bound for a massive meltdown in a Jean Charest romp.
The party, famous for taking down legendary leaders from Rene Levesque to Lucien Bouchard, would fall upon Boisclair without pity.
The merciless band of hard-core Pequiste militants may have to sheathe their knives after Monday's election.
Boisclair's campaign has been far from stellar but he has managed to win praise for a relatively gaffe-free run, an aggressive debate performance and a little glimpse of his human side.
He's even won over Bernard Landry, the man who criticized Boisclair for "his lack of judgment" just weeks before the campaign.
"He's run an excellent campaign," Landry said a few days ago.
High praise for a rookie leader whose party is poised to do about the same - or a little worse - than its 2003 showing of 33 per cent in popular support.
"Boisclair just ran a much better campaign than people would have anticipated from the outset," said John Parisella, a communications specialist at Concordia University and a former Liberal adviser.
Exceeding low expectations has Boisclair in the game, but his saviour might turn out to be Mario Dumont. The Action democratique du Quebec's rise in polls might fracture the vote in ways that could lead to Boisclair becoming premier.
That would be a first, in a couple of ways.
Openly gay and an admitted former cocaine user, Boisclair could have expected a lot of mud to fly in the election campaign.
Boisclair, 40, got a pass on the drugs but the strange gay-bashing rant of a radio host may have helped him.
Accused of being wooden and haughty, Boisclair choked back tears while answering questions about the radio host's contention that the Parti Quebecois is a "club of fags."
It was a rare glimpse into the human side of a political leader known for arrogance and the 1000-watt smile he sometimes wears like a mask.
Boisclair seemed to gain confidence as the campaign went on, particularly after a forceful debate performance that many thought he won.
But Boisclair could not hide his thin skin for the entire campaign.
He angrily refused to apologize for talking about "the slanting eyes" of Asians in French. He defended his right to use a turn of phrase most francophones consider innocent but which came as a shock to the ears of some Asians.
Parisella questioned the late tactic of hauling out old PQ warhorses like Landry and former premier Jacques Parizeau.
"The more (they) come out looking like Boisclair's father, the more it hurts Boisclair," Parisella said.
"It looks like the old generation has not adopted him, is second-guessing him, or is being paternalistic to him. His whole draw was supposed to be about renewal."
Boisclair's party renewal got off to a rocky start before the election.
He was roundly criticized for playing along with a tasteless TV spoof based on the gay cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain."
His party sank in polls despite Charest's deep unpopularity. Then he committed the cardinal sin of soft-pedalling sovereignty in a party with no patience.
Boisclair then stumbled into the hot button debate over accommodation of immigrants when he mused it might be time to take the crucifix out of the legislature.
He quickly backtracked. He begged his own party members to forgive his rough start.
Boisclair is the son of a real-estate developer from Montreal's well-to-do Outremont neighbourhood.
Boisclair attended College Jean-de-Brebeuf, whose alumni include former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
First elected at 23, Boisclair is a lifelong politician like his two main rivals. It all shows in how they relate to people, according to former PQ cabinet minister Jean-Pierre Charbonneau.
"These are politicians who started very young and who have done nothing else," said Charbonneau.
"They've never suffered on the job market. Regardless of their personal dramas, they've had relatively easy lives."
Boisclair's easy political life became tougher in the 1990s when he attracted the anger of then-leader Parizeau for criticizing the PQ for being too "fundamentalist" and ignoring minorities.
Parizeau declared, "that young Boisclair does not exist."
New leader Lucien Bouchard took over the party after the 1995 referendum and brought Boisclair into cabinet, where he became a zealous defender of budget cuts.
Boisclair served in the legislature until August 2004 when he resigned to attend the prestigious John F. Kennedy School of Government in the United States.
Boisclair was preparing to move to Toronto to experience life outside of politics when Landry's sudden resignation in 2005 brought him back to the party. He handily won the leadership months later.
