been at opposite ends of the debates in the early 1980s about patriation of the Canadian constitution and about the National Energy Program. The energy issue created an open feud between them during Clark's 1979-80 PC government and had significantly undermined his attempts of offering more conciliatory federal-provincial relations as a selling point of the party. Clark attempted to divine Davis's intentions by making a series of public remarks, including that Davis was "regional candidate" and that he had encouraged bilingual educational reforms as an election measure. The remarks angered Davis and his "Big Blue Machine" campaign team, which began to create a national structure and solicit positive responses throughout the party hierarchy, including most PC Premiers. The day before announcing his candidacy, Premier of Saskatchewan Grant Devine called Davis, downplayed his prior support, and informed him that Lougheed would campaign explicitly against him if he ran and that he could not support his candidacy. Devine's reversal had been preceded by other warnings regarding Lougheed's intentions and Davis felt that, while he could win, to do so against Lougheed and Clark would fatally divide the party on regional lines. Davis's decision left Crombie and Wilson some hope in Ontario for recruiting members of Davis's campaign team, however, it effectively dispersed to all the candidates. Aside from discouraging Davis's candidacy, Lougheed declined to enter the race, but insisted on inviting leadership candidates for interviews with the Alberta PC Caucus to help determine their support, as all PC MLAs were ex officio delegates. The caucus meeting was referred to by candidates as an "inquisition" and seen as using provincial government resources for an internal party election at the federal level, though only Wilson refused to attend. Lougheed ultimately did not disclose who he voted for. Ideological change Media coverage emphasized the pro-business and neo-liberal rhetoric of most of the candidates as a "changing of the guard" within the PC Party from their more classical conservative and moderate elements. This allowed the Clark campaign to try cast to the race as being between a group of right-wingers, on one hand, and a centrist who had been able to defeat the Liberals and had brought a multitude of previously excluded groups into the party. The Mulroney campaign responded by continuing its pro-business line, but attacking Crosbie's proposal for a free trade agreement and championing their candidate's bilingualism to find a middle ground between delegates.