Just for the record, I believe that PB got his just desserts. And it wasn't a "fake sex scandal" - the guy was well known as a douchebag, so everything disclosed was likely real. In fact, it was an open secret even when he was an MP in Ottawa. The McVety faction willingly got into bed with Brown - got him elected leader THEN when Brown realized he couldn't win as a bible thumper he made a fake move towards the centre and publicly abandoned the social conservatives (even though his voting record as a Federal MP was 100% socon). What followed was inevitable and it worked because anybody who followed politics and Brown knew that the guy was a hypocritical, phoney, opportunistic asshole. Note that few people outside of Brown's family (and people who benefited from his blatant corruption) miss him or defended him. Also note - that Ford and McVety were talking and testing the waters days BEFORE the Brown scandal hit the newswires.
The ironic twist is that Ford was put into the leadership in exactly the same way, using the same methods as Brown. Fake, instant conservatives. The real story will eventually come out - insiders know or suspect, but have to put on a smiley face because there's an election going on. I suspect that Elliot knows what happened but made the calculation that there was not enough time before the election to blow up the party and rebuild it. Also note that Ford turfed Granic-Allen which upset the So-cons, but the next day he pledged to cancel the sex-ed, which got them back on side (as if they'd vote for any other party anyway... LOL).
Anyway, as I said in earlier threads when polls were showing a Ford Majority that this election is going to be volatile because you have an incumbent party that is despised, an official opposition party that is COMPLETELY fractured and led by a former drug dealing, idiot, thug and then you have the NDP. Ironically, the NDP suffers because of over-hyped criticism of Rae (who actually did a decent job given the circumstances he faced). It's similar to Wynne - who has NOT done a great job, but the criticism of her has been WAY over-hyped. McGuinty is the culprit more than Wynne for the Liberal's trouble.
I suspect that many voters will not make their final decision until they have the ballot in front of them. Then it will be a leap of faith (NDP) or a last minute "hold the nose" vote (OPC or Liberals). That's why I have repeatedly said that calling this election or prematurely celebrating "victory" is a mugs game.
Full disclosure - in my adult voting history I tend to be right-leaning. I've worked as a volunteer for the Ontario PC's in several elections and know a lot of people who are still inside the party. I even re-joined the party to vote in the last leadership vote - but because of the disorganized, incompetent mess of a party organization - never got my code so couldn't vote for Elliot (who by the way, got more votes, but lost because of the way the votes were weighted). The charlatans who have hijacked the Conservative brand both Federally and Provincially make me sick. They're social conservative ass-hats who rely upon ignorance and dimwits to attract and maintain support. In the case of Ford - he's just an ass-hat. The best thing for the OPC would be to lose to a minority Govt so that it can TOTALLY rebuild and then go back to the polls in 18 months or so.