The Tories sponsored a car on the NASCAR circuit. No big deal; that's probably a good way to reach their demographic.

Now, who is the car being driven by?

CP reports that it's none other than Pierre Bourque of Bourque Newswatch fame. An excerpt from the CP story on CTV.ca:

Research on the business model for Bourque Newswatch suggests the federal Conservative party has just guaranteed itself favourable coverage for the foreseeable future by sponsoring Bourque's hobby.

Past and current Bourque clients have confirmed to The Canadian Press that advertisers on the site can expect flattering headlines or links, or headlines and links denigrating their opponents.

The Conservative party refuses to confirm or deny that it employs Bourque's headline service directly. But months of negative headlines and links to scathing blogs about Liberal Leader Stephane Dion on Bourque Newswatch indicate someone with an axe to grind is paying the news aggregator, which openly advertises its headline service for sale.

When the Conservatives announced the NASCAR sponsorship Sunday, they also neglected to mention the sponsored vehicle is driven by Bourque.

Instead, the party's news release referred to Whitlock Motor Sports.