Harper goes for new look on stage

I've seen many incarnations of Stephen Harper the campaigner.

There was the time he backed away from a group of children, who, admittedly, were covered in finger paint.

Then eventually he got to the point where Monday, he could hardly contain the laughter as a cute two-and-a-half-year-old was hitting him on the back of his legs to get his attention.

Then there's Harper the speaker.

In the 2005-2006 campaign, he started using a teleprompter, two see-through paddles on either side of the podium.

By the end of the campaign, he tried a wireless microphone to sum up his platform in a speech to supporters. If he had a teleprompter, I don't remember seeing it.

But its 2011. And its time for a new look.

Now, Harper is using a different teleprompter. It's one large television screen just below the riser for the television cameras shooting the event.

And the microphone is wireless, clipped to his lapel. It's kind of like Steve Jobs from Apple, but without the black turtleneck and a new gadget to try.

The audience has changed, too. People sit all around the riser as he paces around it, one hand in his pocket, professor-like.

It's hard to say what the crowds think of it yet. So far the crowds have been small, even in Conservative strongholds like Edmonton. But it is only Day 3.