"After a first, few minutes of disappointment and despair, they started dancing on the sofa in the hotel room, saying: 'Daddy, we're going to spend more time with you now.' "

The result was the culmination of an uneventful, four-week campaign that was characterized by caution on the part of Lord, Graham and the NDP's Allison Brewer.

With so much at stake, both Lord and Graham ran smooth, safe campaigns that promised New Brunswickers a lower cost of living, more jobs, and better opportunities under their administrations.

Lord, 40, was re-elected in Moncton East. Once touted as a possible federal Tory leader, he appealed to New Brunswickers to stay the course with his party, which brought in a series of balanced budgets and lower taxes.

In the final days of the campaign, he attempted to open some ground between himself and Graham by pledging to cut the province's income tax by eight per cent.

Lord also reminded voters that he enjoys a close, personal friendship with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, suggesting that those ties would translate into greater federal largesse for New Brunswick.

The former gym teacher struck the most effective chords when he reminded New Brunswickers that their children are leaving the province, searching for better, more prosperous futures in Western Canada.

"It frustrates me, and I know it frustrates you, that we are losing a planeload of New Brunswickers every single week who are travelling to Alberta to work," Graham said during one campaign stop.

At one point in the campaign, the Conservatives were accused of stooping low by producing a website that poked fun at Graham's proposal to scour Canada for top-notch civil servants. On the website, the duties for these "supercrats" are described as, among other things, reminding New Brunswickers "they can't make toast" and continually telling residents: "This is how we do it in Toronto."

As well, questions were raised about Lord's commitment to the job when he said he might consider a move to Ottawa if he didn't not win the election.

And one of the leaders debates produced a decisive moment when Graham tried to force Lord to accept responsibility for a failed deal to buy a Venezuelan fuel called Orimulsion for a New Brunswick power plant.

Lord has blamed executives at NB Power for not securing a signed contract for the fuel before proceeding with a $747-million overhaul of the power plant.

"Leadership is about taking responsibility," Graham said, accusing Lord of blaming everyone else for the Orimulsion fiasco, which could end up costing the province more than $2 billion.

The pundits also concluded that a new electoral map may have favoured the Liberals, given the fact they would have won the last election had the new ridings been in place then.

Although Lord painted a rosy economic picture of the province, its economic outlook is uncertain. Population decline due to the exodus of young people is one of the biggest clouds on the province's horizon.

The NDP, which traditionally gets about 10 per cent of the vote and has never had more than two seats in the legislature, often appeared to be in disarray during the campaign. It fielded only 48 of a possible 55 candidates.

The election became inevitable when a backbencher told Lord he was resigning his seat to return to private life, a move that would have plunged Lord's fragile government into minority status.

The Liberals said they were happy with the boundary changes since they would have won the last election in 2003 had the new ridings been in place then.

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