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The federal Liberals continue to maintain a slight lead in public support, according to a new Forum Research poll.

With an election to be held in or before October, the Liberals have the support of 37 per cent of Canadian voters, with the Tories holding onto 33 per cent, the survey, found.

The New Democrats are at 20 per cent support.

The Liberals saw a slight drop in fortunes, down from last months total of 41 per cent support, while the Conservatives remained steady at 33 per cent.

The NDP jumped slightly from 17 per cent in December.

While the Liberals still lead, its a more modest kind of parity than weve seen recently, Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement.

He said the 30 new seats being added to the House of Commons for the next election favour the Conservatives, who, according to Bozinoff stand to win a small minority despite trailing slightly in the popular vote, based on the latest poll results.

In the last half year the Conservatives have eaten into the previously large lead the Liberals enjoyed since choosing Justin Trudeau as their leader in 2013.

The two parties have been virtually neck and neck since this past fall.

The official Opposition New Democrats, however, have seen no more than 23 per cent support from respondents since last May.

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Federal Liberals hold onto slight lead, poll shows

Liberal Massachusetts Rep. Mike Capuano incensed the moderates when he said if Democrats support rolling back Dodd-Frank regulations, you might as well be a Republican. | AP Photo

Moderate House Democrats are warring with the dominant liberal faction over the leftward shift of the caucus, arguing that theyll never win back the majority if they dont change their message.

Tension reached a boiling point during a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday over the partys stance toward Wall Street banks, according to multiple sources at the meeting.

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Liberal Massachusetts Rep. Mike Capuano incensed the moderates when he said if Democrats support rolling back Dodd-Frank regulations, you might as well be a Republican.

Capuanos comments were so pointed he immediately offended the handful of Democrats who had voted with Republicans previously on the issue and still support it, the sources said. Capuano said in an interview that he stood by his remarks and he had not heard that any of his colleagues were upset. The bill was defeated by Democrats Wednesday.

The moderate Democrats pushed back in the caucus meeting in exchanges described as intense and emotional.

They were angered because that same legislation had garnered support from more than 70 Democrats in the 113th Congress, but became a political landmine after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized the legislation as a Wall Street handout.

The vocal infighting highlights the growing divide between the large bloc of Warren liberals and the dwindling number of moderate Democrats a fight that will likely continue next week when Republicans make their second attempt to change the controversial Dodd-Frank law.

I feel strongly that the Democratic body is supposed to be representing the average American who is unaware and incapable of defending themselves when it comes to things like Wall Street abusing them, Capuano said in an interview. I feel strongly about it and I said so.

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Dem moderates, liberals lash out over Dodd-Frank

'We saw their platform not only as a threat to majority government, but to the state': Tasmanian Premier-elect Will Hodgman. Photo: Peter Mathew

The Tasmanian Liberal Party in Tasmania considered the Palmer United Party such a serious threat to its majority government ambitions in the state election that it hired a corporate spin doctor to run a campaign against it.

Premier-elect Will Hodgman confirmed in a post-victory interview that Liberal campaign resources were put into negating the ultimately unsuccessful challenge from Clive Palmer's party.

It included hiring Melbourne-based former Liberal adviser Ian Hanke, now a private public relations professional who worked for suspended Essendon coach James Hird. It is understood Mr Hanke helped with a barrage of 50 releases pointing the Tasmanian media at PUP's failings and has since now claimed the party is falling apart in the island state.

PUP took 4.9 per cent of the vote in Saturday's state election, compared to Senator-elect Jacquie Lambie's 6.58 per cent for the party at the 2013 Federal election.

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Of the full tickets they ran across the island, only one candidate, Kevin Morgan in the north-west seat of Braddon, still has a remote chance of falling across the line on preferences when they are eventually cut up.

"We saw their platform not only as a threat to majority government, but to the state," Mr Hodgman told Fairfax Media.

"No matter what [Mr Palmer] spent, how colourful it was, it was superficial. So we did take that very seriously...We certainly weren't going to be nice guys in this when we saw a threat to the state."

Mr Hodgman said he made no apology for including in the Liberal campaign headquarters a number of very professional campaigners, including Mr Hanke.

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Liberals targeted Palmer United Party 'threat' with spin campaign in Tasmanian election

The first wave of weekly tracking in the Nanos Party Power Index pegged the federal Liberals at 56 points out of 100 followed by the Conservatives at 51 points, the NDP at 49 points, the Green Party at 31 points and the Bloc Quebecois at 25 points (Quebec only).

The Nanos Party Power Index methodology comprises a basket of political goods that includes ballot preferences, accessible voters, preferred PM views and evaluations of the leaders. It is modeled similar to a standard confidence index.

For the second week in succession the NDP have hit a 12 month high on their level of accessible voter tracking. Asked which parties they would consider or not consider voting for through a series of independent questions, 55 per cent of Canadians would consider voting for the Liberals, 47 per cent would consider voting NDP, 42 per cent would consider voting for the Conservatives and 27 per cent would consider voting for the Green Party.

Asked which federal party leader they would prefer as prime minister, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper realized a three point lead over Trudeau. Thirty three per cent of Canadians preferred Harper as PM followed by 30 per cent who preferred Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, 18 per cent for NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, four per cent for Green Leader Elizabeth May and 13 per cent were unsure.

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Federal Liberals tops on Nanos Party Power Index tracking

RWW News: Ken Ham: #39;Intolerant #39; Liberals Won #39;t Fund Noah #39;s Ark Park
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ken-ham-demands-taxpayers-pay-one-greatest-evangelist-outreaches-our-day Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing...

By: RWW Blog

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RWW News: Ken Ham: 'Intolerant' Liberals Won't Fund Noah's Ark Park - Video