Ryan Hastman has had his Dan Quayle moment.

Hastman, 31, is the Conservative Party's star candidate in the Edmonton-Strathcona riding, chosen to appeal to the electoral district's large population of university students and thereby unseat New Democrat Member of Parliament Linda Duncan in the May 2 federal election.

As the only New Democrat elected in Alberta, which as stated in the Gospel According to St. Stephen Harper is supposed to be an unbroken sea of Conservative blue, Duncan is an irritating burr under the prime ministerial saddle.