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'The coalition committed $10 million towards an online safety for children policy.': Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: Rob Homer

Since the Coalition took power in September, Malcolm Turnbull has valiantly played the happy Communications Minister - uninterested in higher office, perfectly content plugging copper into Labor's national broadband network and axing redundant legislation. On Wednesday, the Abbott government will hold its first ''repeal day'', with Turnbull overseeing about half of the 8000 repeals.

But there's a fly in Turnbull's deregulation soup. If you want to make the loquacious free-marketer go quiet, ask him about his understudy Paul Fletcher's plan to introduce a new ''children's e-safety commissioner'' with the power to force social media sites to take down content deemed harmful to children.

Celebrated by anti-bullying groups, the policy is strongly opposed by social media companies, telecommunications firms and newly appointed Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson.

The idea emerged from the Coalition's online safety working group, set up by Tony Abbott in opposition, which travelled around the country to talk to parents, students and teachers about cyber bullying.

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Victorian Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, a member of the group, says she was disturbed to learn about a Bendigo Facebook page, ''Benders root rater'', which judged the sexual performance of teenagers as young as 13.

''The men involved in that site eventually have been sentenced, or received suspended sentences, but that was a year after the page went viral.''

Fletcher, chairman of the working group and now parliamentary secretary for communications, says: ''Twenty or 30 years ago, if you were bullied at school, you could at least go home and feel safe That's not the case any more. All the major sites have complaint schemes but the feedback we got was that, when people report problems, the experience is not always what they want it to be.''

Fletcher's solution is to appoint an official with the power to issue ''rapid removal'' orders if large social media companies refuse, or are too slow, to remove material deemed harmful to someone under 18. The government is also considering creating a new Commonwealth cyber-bullying offence.

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Liberals split over plan for cyber-bully pulpit

Despite repeated Conservative assurances the next federal election will be in October, opposition parties remain skeptical and are preparing for an early campaign.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he has no plans for a vote before Oct. 19 the date mandated by 2007 legislation that establishes the third Monday in October every four years as election day.

October, 2015, it is, as the Prime Minister indicated, Mr. Harpers spokesman, Jason MacDonald, told The Globe and Mail on Monday.

And in a Dec. 27 fundraising e-mail to supporters, the Conservatives count down to a fall campaign, saying there are 295 days until the next election.

Still, the New Democrats and the Liberals are getting ready just in case the Conservatives deem the spring more opportune timing.

The Liberal website, for example, shows the party has nominated 182 candidates, and a spokesman said two candidate training sessions have already been held. We have to be ready for a spring election, said Olivier Duchesneau. Well go when we have to go.

The NDP, which has booked a plane for both the spring and fall, says it is finalizing financing arrangements, including negotiating a campaign loan. In an e-mail to supporters on Dec. 28, the NDP explicitly warns: If the pundits are right and Stephen Harper calls an early election, this could be the last fundraising deadline of our campaign.

We have a what if scenario for the spring, said NDP national director Anne McGrath, noting the Conservatives pre-empted a fixed-election date before, when Parliament was dissolved in 2008 after the 2006 election that brought the Tories to power.

Experts say the Conservatives may find motivation to go to the polls before the fall, citing, for example, the April start date for the expenses trial of suspended senator Mike Duffy, who was appointed by the Conservative government.

We have to remember that an incumbent government never, ever, ever telegraphs when an early election might take place it should be no surprise that the Conservatives assert they expect the election to happen in the fall, said Nik Nanos, the head of Nanos Research. But theres no benefit in keeping a promise if youre going to lose.

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NDP, Liberals step up federal election timetable despite October 2015 date

Prince Edward Islands ruling Liberals are riding high in the opinion polls and there is about to be a vacancy in the Premiers office but not one current cabinet minister wants to fill it.

Instead, a coronation is expected on the tiny island province, with the crown going to Wade MacLauchlan, former president of the University of Prince Edward Island, whose political experience so far is being one of 12 members of the North Shore Community Council on the island.

The leadership convention is in February and, right now, Mr. MacLauchlan, 60, is the only candidate for the job of party leader and premier.

I think it was really a feeling collectively that an outsider, or a fresh face would be welcomed Mr. MacLauchlan said in a recent interview.

More than welcome it seems, as the cabinet, including ministers who were considered heirs apparent and most of the caucus immediately and enthusiastically rallied around Mr. MacLauchlan after Liberal Premier Robert Ghiz surprised everyone by announcing his resignation.

He made his intentions known in November, the day after his government opened a new session of the legislature with a Speech from the Throne. He still had a year to go in his mandate, with a fixed election date scheduled for the fall of 2015. Mr. Ghiz, who has been Premier since 2007, said he was leaving because he wanted to spend more time with his young family.

Right now, 50 per cent of islanders support the Liberals, according to a Corporate Research Associates poll released in early December.

The question that I dont know the answer to is: Why dont any of the cabinet ministers want the job? says Don Desserud, a political science professor at UPEI. It could be because they are so in awe of Wade, but if its not that, I dont know what it is I would have thought in any other jurisdiction there would be what we call a pile-on.

Doug Currie, the islands high-profile Health Minister, was considered a successor to Mr. Ghiz, but was among the 250 islanders who were there when Mr. MacLauchlan was piped in to a community hall to announce his candidacy.

He says leadership contests can be divisive and rip the party apart. So, he is happy to support Mr. MacLauchlan.

The rest is here:
PEI Liberals rally behind outsider Wade MacLauchlan to lead party

UP with Steve The year in interviews / Republicans, Democrats, Election 2014
UP with Steve: The year in interviews What a year it was. Take a look back at some of the big interviews from UP with Steve Kornacki that made waves in 2014. 9:45 AM 12/28/2014 explore: ...

By: MSNBC News

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UP with Steve The year in interviews / Republicans, Democrats, Election 2014 - Video

By Perry Bacon Jr.

Democratic activists have so far had one message for potential presidential candidates: If you're name isn't Clinton or Warren, we aren't interested.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have made numerous trips to Iowa and left little doubt they are strongly considering 2016 runs. Virginia Sen. Jim Webb established a formal presidential exploratory committee last month, becoming the only candidate in either party to do so. But the trio has generated little support or interest.

Liberal groups like MoveOn.org who are looking for a more progressive alternative to Hillary Clinton, have bypassed these three candidates to endorse Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has said repeatedly she will not run for president.

Meanwhile, the three are being rejected even by Democrats in their home states. Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and once one of the leading voices in the party's left wing, announced this month he was endorsing Clinton over Sanders, who was formerly mayor of Dean's hometown, Burlington. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democrat who succeeded Webb in the Senate, told Bloomberg earlier this month he is also backing Clinton.

A few weeks ago, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski spoke at a "Ready for Hillary" event, a direct sign she is not backing her state's outgoing governor.

These early endorsements are critical for candidates to raise money, hire staff and build viable campaigns. And if they can't build more support over the next few months, O'Malley, Sanders and Webb may either be forced to say they are not following through with full-fledged presidential campaigns or run long-shot candidacies with little to no chance of victory.

Progressives are hungry for a real champion on income inequality, but there are also progressives who are really interested in seeing a woman run and win the presidency

"Finding the oxygen [to compete] will be challenging for these guys," said John Davis, who was an adviser for John Edwards' campaign in Iowa in 2008 and then served as chief of staff to Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley. "At this moment, they've got a lot of work to do."

The dynamic among the Democrats is virtually unprecedented in American politics: one woman the heavy favorite for a party's nomination, another her strongest potential opponent, and three male candidates struggling to compete with them.

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Democrats Eyeing a Clinton Challenge Get Icy Reception