Ah, yes! I was reminded of this by the Armchair Garbageman.
What was the deal with Ernie Eves and his notepad? Throughout the debate, whenever McGuinty was speaking to Eves, Eves' eyes would be on his desk, and he'd be writing up notes on a pad of paper, rather than appearing to pay attention to the points being raised. It wasn't the most professional impression Eves could have made.
I don't think it was Eves' fault, though. I'm assuming that every leader had the right to make notes as the others spoke, but we saw no such pen movements on McGuinty or Hampton's podiums. I think it was the fault of the camera angle. Every leader got their own camera angle (straight on front, and they were sure to address it whenever it was on). There were two subsequent angles, one from the left, primarily used when Hampton (standing on the far left) was arguing with McGuinty (standing in the centre), the other from the right, primarily used when McGuinty was arguing with Eves (standing on the far right). The far right camera was also employed to show the three leaders together, and to show Hampton and Eves in the same frame when they argued.
The angle of the far right camera displayed much of Eves desk, and gave him his unflattering appearance whenever he wrote up notes for his next reply. Either Hampton was able to think more on the fly, or he was able to conceal his notepad or pen writing, or the far left camera was angled in such a way that his desk did not show.
I'm assuming that the seating arrangements were doled out randomly on this debate.
Now the Conservatives are claiming that they won the debate (a bald-faced lie made plain by the tone of desperation in the various press releases) It's this sort of blatant partisanship that sickens me on politics. The NDP, at least, are claiming that they were competitive, without claiming outright victory.