The interior of the leased campaign bus smelled of stale coffee, diesel exhaust, and the damp, freezing wool of coats piled haphazardly onto the narrow overhead luggage racks. The vehicle was a massive, rolling aluminum tube vibrating relentlessly as it tore down Queensway, leaving the political bubble of Halifax behind and pushing aggressively toward the Quebec border. Outside the tinted, reinforced windows, the October sky was a bruised, slate-grey expanse, spitting a mixture of freezing rain