Of course there is a sensible, businesslike explanation for the purchase request the government issued a few weeks ago.

But doesn't it raise a tiny bit of curiosity to see the government ordering 11 big screen TVs for offices in Victoria and elsewhere in B.C. just a month before the Olympics?

Not just big screen TVs, mind you. Really big screen TVs. The Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development and the Ministry of Energy need 11 of them, preferably the 52-inch or 55-inch Samsung, Sharp or LG models that start at more than $1,000. They need the wall mounts and cables, too.

Seven are headed for various boardrooms in the Jack Davis Building on Blanshard Street while the rest are being shipped to government offices in Kamloops, Smithers, Cranbrook and Vancouver. The closing date for bids was Jan. 28, which should leave just enough time to get them up on the wall for the February presentation seminars and teleconferences for which I am sure they are needed.

And if they happen to be turned on during the opening ceremonies or the snowboarding half-pipe medal round, that would just allow experts to monitor the biggest economic development project in a generation.

An official said the TVs are for video conferencing, which cuts down on travel costs, makes government more efficient and saves money.

So it's a coincidence they were ordered just ahead of the Games.

But it illustrates how overshadowed politics and government is going to be for the next few weeks.

Given the timeline, it's unlikely the new office Jumbotrons will be on during this afternoon's throne speech, which is likely to be the least-noticed in years.

That gives Premier Gordon Campbell an interesting choice.

Knowing everyone is so preoccupied with the main event starting Friday, does he give up on the idea of laying out an agenda --which is the intent of the throne speech -- and just have Lt.-Gov. Steven Point lead MLAs in three cheers for the Games?

Or does he make an audacious play and dangle something new and different in front of B.C. taxpayers?

The first inclination is likely to choose the first option. There's only so much room on the public agenda and right now it's devoted to one topic. Sending the government of B.C. off on a new tear 72 hours before the Games open would probably only confuse things.

But the B.C. Liberals badly need a new storyline. Liberal MLAs are wildly excited about the Games, naturally. But many view the post-Olympic period with a sense of impending dread. The one thing the Olympics have already accomplished is to take people's minds off the looming introduction of the harmonized sales tax.

Come March, the Games are over and the HST lurches back into view as the main political event of 2010. A new budget based partly on the big revenue gift Ottawa offered to get B.C. to sign up for harmonization will be introduced March 2.

The legislative session will run right through the spring, with the NDP MLAs harping about the HST every chance they get.

And former premier Bill Vander Zalm's personal comeback tour starts in April, when his petition drive against the tax gets underway.

Campbell, who's been on the defensive all winter, needs to get back to playing offence again.

Somewhere between announcing not much of anything and dropping a major new bombshell is a happy medium.

That's what Campbell is likely looking to achieve. The speech will be Campbell's best effort to regain control of the agenda. After months spent reacting to HST hostility, reacting to the new deficit picture, reacting to accusations they faked the pre-election budget, Liberals need to be proactive again.

There will be a host of new measures and bright new ideas unveiled this afternoon, along with the expected pre-Olympic pep rally. They'll all be aimed at showing the Liberals are still in charge and still at least attempting to drive forward.

But none of them will overshadow the Games.

lleyne@tc.canwest.com