Just over a year ago the NDP was riding high in the polls, Leader Robert Chisholm was the most popular of the three party leaders and the NDP was tied with the ruling Liberals with 19 seats.
This demonstrated the incredible discontent in the Maritimes. Workers and the poor were fed up with cutbacks and corruption. Students were sick of tuition hikes.
And they had had enough of the Liberals pork-barrel politics which led to the Westray disaster and then later the fumbling of the inquiry.
Before the Liberals were taken over by Russell MacLellan, the premiership of John Savage had faced revolts by construction workers and a near general strike in the public sector.
Even after the last election which nearly saw the NDP replace the Liberals, MacLellan's government continued to attack education while they doled out cash to rich corporations like Michelin, Irving and AT&T.
The stage seemed set for the first ever election of an NDP government on the east coast. Instead, John Hamm's Tories swept the board and won a majority government.
Meanwhile the NDP had managed to turn its high profile position as Official Opposition into less seats and lower popularity. They fell from 19 seats -- actually 18 since one member of caucus had been forced out over corruption allegations -- to 12 and from 39% of the popular vote to 30%.
What happened?
The Nova Scotia NDP refused to campaign on any of the real issues. Instead they focused on "fiscal responsibility" even though every poll showed that to be voter's lowest priority.
The focus on fiscal conservatism made it impossible to tap into the anger that existed amongst ordinary Nova Scotians. It left the field wide open for the Tories.
At one point, in mid-campaign, the NDP ran a campaign ad which criticized the Tories for making too many promises. And Chisholm compared himself to the new Tory Premier of New Brunswick Bernard Lord.
The NDP leadership manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.