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The Cochrane Room at Government House was so packed with Liberals Thursday that they ran out of chairs.

Photo by James McLeod/The Telegram

Liberal MHA Scott Reid (right) is sworn in by Lt.-Gov Frank Fagan at Government House Thursday morning.

MHA Paul Lane offered to let a candidate sit on his knee, but workers brought in a few more chairs before it came to that.

The Liberal staffers and supporters, and Liberal politicians past, present and future, were all crowded into the little room to watch Scott Reid get sworn in as the MHA for St. Georges-Stephenville East.

Since the last general election, there have been four byelections, which has led to four swearing-in ceremonies for Liberal MHAs at Government House. The mood in the room was upbeat; the Liberals feel like they have the wind at their back these days, although theyre reticent to say so publicly.

Youd be silly to think that youre going to win every one, but you set out to do that. You just try to do the same thing and work as hard, and make it just as much of a priority as the last one, said Paul Antle, who ran for the party leadership last year, and plans to run for the Liberals in the 2015 general election.

This fall, there will likely be three more byelections then-finance minister Charlene Johnson resigned last week, Justice Minister Terry French announced that hes leaving next week and Premier Tom Marshall is expected to retire after the PCparty picks a new leader this weekend.

Familiar policies

Liberal Leader Dwight Ball said he has checked out bits and pieces of the Tory leadership race that has stretched out over the past summer. He said he watched the televised leadership debate on NTV over the weekend, but didnt follow it closely enough to be able to pick a winner.

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With Reid sworn in, Liberals feel the momentum