Provincial New Democrat Leader Carole James insists she is running in the B.C. election to win.

Party insiders and the majority of British Columbians polled recently think otherwise.

They think the NDP will be lucky if they finish the race on May 17 with more than 20 seats.

Carole James

That exit followed a decade of NDP rule which was marked with corruption, investigations, party strife, an exodus of British Columbians and economic ineptitude.

James is a political neophyte and proves that constantly.

In a recent published interview the former school trustee stressed that the previous four NDP administrations between 1991 and 2001 which plunged B.C. into economic despair, did nothing wrong.

Insisting the economy was not in shambles when the NDP left office, James's refusal to acknowledge that her predecessors could have done a better job is a frightening reminder that the party may have a new face but has the same old views.

It is also in contrast to what NDP principal secretary Gerry Scott has been promising--the NDP won't deny its past.

Maybe Scott can refresh James's memory about the fast ferry fiasco which sucked up hundreds of millions of dollars; that more than 175,000 people left the province in the latter part of the 1990s and that the size of the provincial debt ballooned from about C$10 billion in 1991 to over C$21 billion when the party got thrashed.

In contrast, B.C.'s sustained growth under the Liberals has turned this once-threatened have-not province into the envy of Canada.

Conceding the economy and British Columbians have been doing well of late, James's muted response to the prosperity of the province is that the Liberals have been lucky.

But it takes no crystal ball to forecast that BC is better off under the lucky Liberals than an idea-bankrupt NDP.

The NDP's lack of a strong vision for B.C. is evident in the party's new series of TV attack ads aimed at the Liberals.

Instead of spending the millions to talk about how the party can shape the future, James dressed in a white shirt and black suit, devotes most of the ads to attack Premier Gordon Campbell.

"We've seen couples move from their home communities, separated after 50, 60 years of marriage and that's no way to treat the seniors of British Columbia," says James in the first ad.

In the second ad, James briefly discusses the economy but again attacks Premier Gordon Campbell's policies.

"Too few are benefiting from economic growth. Only the wealthiest benefited from his tax breaks," says James.

As for what the NDP will do, James says there will be no tax increases, reduced hospital waits, more teachers, tuition freezes and balanced budgets.

How she will achieve this is still very much a mystery because her campaign philosophy revolves around knocking what the government has done, not what the NDP can do.

James believes that she can ride a small wave of Liberal unpopularity to office by screaming that there are not enough beds for seniors in B.C.

She wants British Columbians to think that the province under the NDP--ever mind the track record--can do much better than the Liberals.

Translated, James wants you to give the NDP another chance to ruin British Columbia.