Tom Flannigan, The Man Behind The Man

A long, but interesting read (did I mention long?) from the October, 2004 issue of The Walrus, profiling Tom Flannigan, the man, and ideological driver behind Harper and the nation's current Conservative movement. An excerpt:

"In Harper, Flanagan finally had his dream candidate to carry the neo-conservative torch: an alter ego whose benign boyish good looks belied the radical agenda they shared. Says Cooper: “Tom understands that Stephen is a guy who has the capability of changing what the country looks like.” Flanagan took a leave of absence to join the three-year campaign that began with Harper’s takeover of the Canadian Alliance and ended with his annexation of Peter MacKay’s Tories and his ultimate face-off against Martin last June. Some friends were astonished Flanagan opted for a role as Harper’s chief of staff, not one that would tap the sort of risk-calculating he’d honed in his 1998 text, Game Theory and Canadian Politics. But in fact Flanagan and Harper had already spent years together pondering every possible policy and tactic. “Stephen has an incredible strategic sense,” Cooper says. “It’s like playing chess: he can always see five or six moves ahead.”

If this really is like a game of chess, the other guys are playing checkers.

Oh, look... Tom has a piece in today's Globe and Mail.