Pauline: Nik, Sarah, in my experience of covering elections, each one has a heartbeat, a way of unfolding that is unique — and that's part of the fascination. This election has arrhythmia!

Historically, campaigns have momentum in one direction or the other. Early on, the Conservatives were worried about peaking too soon. A couple of days ago, it looked like that was happening, with the Liberals beginning to rise and the Conservatives dropping.

But the turmoil in world markets has altogether changed the calculus. And if you factor in social networking and strategic voting, today it feels as if almost anything could happen. What do you think?

Nik: Polling aside, in trying to anticipate what will happen, a very simple rule of thumb hasn't let me down. Ask yourself who an election is about on the weekend before the vote and you can usually see who is in trouble.

In 2004. the closing days of the election were about the Harper Conservatives and they lost. In 2006 the closing days of the election were about the Martin Liberals and they lost.

The Conservatives need a strategy that will pivot the attention of voters to the Dion Liberals. I was a bit surprised not to see their advertising campaign launch with their platform.

Considering their war chest and campaign bricks and mortar, I expected a big push for the close.

My sense is that the Conservative campaign has had difficulties with the economy turning from a positive to a negative issue for them. In football terms, one could say they have a problem "reading the blitz."

From a research perspective, the other thing I find striking is that the Conservative team may have sophisticated research and voter segmentation strategies, and they likely "know voters," but they are having a problem "understanding voters."

Pauline: I have frequently seen that incredibly intelligent people (high IQ) are not always blessed with similarly high emotional quotients (EQ).

Stephen Harper is unquestionably intelligent. But his style of top-down, command-and-control leadership creates precisely this kind of vulnerability. People around such leaders are often afraid to speak up in the face of firmly-held convictions about which way to go.

Also, as we saw with the arts issue, if you're not asking the right questions, you won't get the right answers. The arts weren't on the list of issues most polls ask about, so how could they appear strongly on anybody's radar?

I am in no way saying, "by the way, that Stéphane Dion is particularly gifted at emotional connection."

What does play in his favour, however, is the overwhelmingly negative attack on his persona and character, which the Conservatives have blasted at voters for months and months now. At a certain point, there is a backlash against that kind of thing. Canadians care deeply about fairness, and the negative ads aimed at Dion smacked of bullying.

Sarah: This week in B.C. shows some new developments. Whereas previously Harper's advertising and campaign efforts in B.C. were focused on attacking the NDP, just yesterday he shifted focus to Dion. I haven't read a recent poll, but I imagine Dion's popularity is increasing, even out west. I'm not campaigning for the man, but I think he has demonstrated some inspired qualities in the past few weeks. As he should, it's his political life is on the line. He has been particularly clear about his mandate.

I find it refreshing, and I imagine others do as well, that despite all of the fear surrounding the economy he is not backing away from the Green Shift. He is giving Canadians the benefit of the doubt that they will be able to understand the need for change and not the status quo when it comes to dealing with climate change and the economy. The debates were a great opportunity for the opposition parties to present new ideas and lo and behold some of them made sense.

Pauline: My sources in Quebec say that two weeks ago they couldn't book Dion anywhere, and campaign workers were hard to find.

But now money and volunteers are pouring in and they don't know how to fit in all the engagements for Dion.

Whereas two weeks ago, the Conservatives were hoping to secure 20 seats in Quebec, they now think they will lose at least one, that of Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn.

The ground is shifting rapidly.

Nik: I've learned to wait until the very end. A number of Canadians are like last-minute shoppers. They will wait until the very last minute to make a decision.

There's also a bigger issue we should be considering. Let's assume that there is a minority government that is weaker than the last.

The House of Commons was fairly dysfunctional and will likely have the same party leaders in the short run. As Canada deals with the shocks of the Wall Street meltdown and the economic uncertainty in the U.S., how will our parliament work?

This next parliament may test the true mettle of our federal leaders.

Pauline: No argument there! But if we are heading into an era of coalition government, as many are now suggesting, I think that all four opposition leaders are better suited to the kinds of compromises that coalition governments require than Harper is — although he has surprised us before and will again, I'm sure.

Ontario lived with an NDP-backed Liberal minority government in the late 1980s and it wasn't so bad. Since this is our third election in four years, I suspect most Canadians would prefer that we explore this rather than pay for yet another expensive election.

Sarah: When this election was first called I thought the timing was terrible, but with developments of the past few weeks, I now think the timing couldn't be much better. There's fallout political awareness from all the attention the economy has been getting.

I expect fewer people will base their votes on vague generalizations about character and will be focusing instead on ideas, policies and approaches. I hope it will translate into more people at the polls on Tuesday. As for the outcome, I predict another minority government, but only this fellow knows for sure.

Nik: Going into the final weekend, there are few more curve balls for Canadian voters. First, Friday morning’s announcement of record job growth in Ontario surely has to be a welcome piece of news for the Harper Conservatives since it validates their “the economy is strong” mantra. Conversely, Stéphane Dion having trouble with a question on the economy Thursday night could raise questions about his leadership. I would expect the Conservatives to pounce on both of these items.

Also, since a Conservative majority is less likely (at least according to the polls today), I expect less strategic voting than in the past. This will likely be good news for the Layton NDP who can likely hold on to NDP support.

Regardless, the results Tuesday could be quite unsettling for the next parliament. Right now, there are three likely options, a Harper minority government (potentially a weaker one), a coalition Conservative-BQ government, or a coalition Liberal-NDP government. My sense is that if our parliament was dysfunctional and muddling along last time, it may get worse. This, in the face of uncertainty and unease in the economy.

Pauline: I have never seen such volatility going into an election. The idea of a dysfunctional, finger-pointing Parliament where no one can get anything done and the tone of political discourse is falling to U.S. standards while world markets are collapsing — it's all very disturbing. As we head into the long weekend with all of these unknowns hanging over our heads, we are a people holding our breath.

That said, Nik, I agree with your earlier comment: I have confidence in the fundamental wisdom of the Canadian people. Let's spend the holiday weekend focusing on the things that really matter to us: Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.