I don't want it, but there'll be one soon. A couple of days ago I was pretty sure the danger had passed. But what Harper said in his press conference last night seemed to be designed to force Dion to commit his disorganized cavalry to assault Harper's well-trained infantry square. Below is the unassailable logic of this reasoning, which I wrote as a comment over at Dust My Broom, before remembering I had my own blog to feed. Forgive the mixed metaphors:

Harper has pushed Dion to the edge almost without trying, and Dion can’t take another step back or he tumbles over the cliff. Harper’s new decision to keep the troops in combat roles past February 2009 is a direct challenge to Dion’s laughable ultimatum — so what’s a Sociology professor to do?

If he fights, he’s gonna get demolished. The Tories are ready, and the Liberal support the current polls show is very soft. Really soft, I think. They have no money, no volunteers, and the hard-core Libs that are hanging around waiting for the tide to turn (so they can reap the rewards that the Liberal party traditionally bestows) are divided and gripped by paranoia.

But if he decides to keep enough of his guys home on the day of the vote, and let the throne speech pass with a ’symbolic’ opposition, he’s going to be there with less than half his caucus. He’s gonna look pretty stupid. And since Harper has made it clear that future votes will also be confidence votes, Dion will have to do it again, and again, and again…

I think he’ll fight. Better to go down with one sword thrust than die of a thousand cuts.