Maybe it's best for the NDP to finish in the mid-high 20's, with Libs in low 30's and Conservatives in mid 30's. If that leads to a slight Liberal minority with 20 - 22 NDP seats (mostly from the north, and seats they won in May), they can prop up the Liberal government for a few years, and go into the next election strong, focusing on regions they would need to and could win.
But Dalton will be motivated in that instance to do to the NDP what Cameron did to the Lib Dems: dump all the blame for unpopular decisions onto the junior partner, which will be powerless to influence the decisions and turn off their entire base.
