Every political party looks for stars, and in Moncton North the Liberals have found theirs.

Mike Murphy is campaigning with a twinkle in his eye as the provincial election gets close. He knows he's doing well - especially among ladies of a certain age who know the Murphy family name. Mike's father Henry is a former Liberal MP and judge; cousin Brian is the mayor.

"God love ya!" one woman exclaims as he strolls into her kitchen to talk about car insurance rates. Several neighbours seem to know the candidate already and greet him warmly.

"Star power" can be overrated in politics - a candidate has to work hard, too - but in a province where people still feel they're entitled to personal relationships with their representatives, a strong community connection or a high-profile name counts for a lot. And that may explain why this election appears to be a toss-up going into the final weekend.

When the Liberals started recruiting candidates months ago, they weren't expected to be competitive in this election. That lessened the appeal of running for the party - and a lot of solid, community-rooted people took a pass. There are some good Liberal candidates, but many others lack the kind of profile that is obviously giving Mike Murphy a boost.

Now that the campaign appears to have become a close contest, with tight races playing out in a number of ridings, it's clear that the Liberals might be doing better if they'd persuaded more "stars" to run for them. (In one area of the province, there's even talk that one Liberal is so unknown that they're dragging down other good Liberal candidates in the area.) "Stars" might have been able to pull in the 200 or 300 or 400 votes that could make all the difference on Monday.

It's a mirror image of what happened to the Conservatives four years ago: Bernard Lord's sweep brought a lot of capable MLAs to Fredericton, and it also brought in a number who were less than stellar. Those who haven't done their work - who didn't make the effort to "become" stars and instead remained unknown in their ridings - are many of the same Tory MLAs now facing stiff competition from Liberals.

It may be why there are so many undecided voters in this battle of the unknowns: There isn't anyone to get all that excited about. And it may provide a lesson to potential star candidates the next time a political party comes recruiting: Don't pass on the chance to put your name on the ballot. Even if things look bad for the party, your own good name could give you a fighting chance. Just look at Mike Murphy.

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