Brian Topp, an NDP negotiator during the coalition talks last year, has a 6-part series on the Globe’s political portal showing a behind-the-scenes look at how the coalition coalesced last year. The first two posts are up (here and here) and make for a fascinating read. Some interesting tid-bits so far:

-From Topp’s accounts, the NDP were the key driving force behind the coalition, having broached the idea with the Liberals several times before – the Dippers had a coalition proposal ready to give Dion on election night, had the results warranted it.

-The Liberals appeared receptive to the idea, but internal manoeuvring over who got to be PM seems to have been an early stumbling block.

–Topp himself admits he seriously underestimated the power of the “deal with the separatists” argument.

What I’ll really be interested in is the next post in Topp’s series, since my view was always that that coalition was a good threat, but the plug should have been pulled once Harper backed down on the voter subsidy issue over the weekend.