This weekend, political parties will be scrambling to get their closing messages out before the electorate shifts focus from headlines to turkey.

NDP spokesman and senior strategist Brad Lavigne said the long weekend has added a few twists to his party's campaign game plan.

"The discussion around the dining room table on Monday night is going to be an important one - people are going to be influencing each other," he said.

"We're very confident that by (Friday) our main message will be well-told in every region of the country and then we'll spend the weekend reinforcing it."

He said the New Democrats are planning a "fierce ground game" throughout the weekend, with leader Jack Layton expected to tour southern Ontario battleground ridings on Sunday and Montreal on Monday.

"We're going to be fiercely campaigning right up until the last possible moment on Monday night," Lavigne said. "Obviously, we take nothing for granted, there's still quite a bit of volatility in the electorate."

In Ontario, provincial parties faced similar challenges in the province's 2007 election, which also followed the Thanksgiving weekend. More...