EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Ralph Klein pretty much promised voters a sleepwalk when he said he wasn't going to make promises or discuss health-care during his campaign and, with 10 days to go before the Nov. 22 election, the electorate appears to be struggling to stay awake.

While opposition parties have laid out detailed platforms with their visions for Alberta's future, Klein's Tories have yet to promise anything but good government in the most general terms. Political analysts say Klein's strategy appears to be along the lines of "the less said the better" as he coasts to what is expected to be another majority victory.

Since returning to the campaign trail last week following the death of his mother, Klein has limited his media availabilities to one a day.

Many of his candidates have missed debates, including Health Minister Gary Mar, who passed on one about health care.

"They are not running a campaign," said Keith Brownsey, who teaches political science at Calgary's Mount Royal College. "They are just sleepwalking through this."

But Faron Ellis, who teaches political science at Lethbridge Community College, said the strategy appears to be working for the Progressive Conservatives, who have held office in Alberta for 33 straight years.

He said Klein stumbled out of the gate with inappropriate comments on disabled Albertans, but since then his campaign team has kept candidates to the mundane message of steady-as-she-goes good government.

"It's the machine getting things back on track after Ralph got them off to a rocky start," he said.

Alberta Justice Minister David Hancock, running in an Edmonton riding, said voters aren't looking for change.

"My sense is people feel Alberta is doing well, that they personally are doing well for the most part and generally speaking . . . they think the province and the government are going in the right direction."

Edmonton is expected to be the major - perhaps the only - battleground in the election with the opposition parties hoping to retake ridings they lost in 2001 when the Tories took 74 of 83 seats in the legislature.

Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, who has been buoyed by his performance in last week's televised debate, said he is pleased the other parties, including the Tories, have been forced to respond to his ideas.

"It has been really important to get the platform out because we're up against a government that has completely refused to put any platform out," he said.

NDP candidate Raj Pannu said the Tories' lack of a plan for the future has angered voters in his south Edmonton riding.

"The anyone-but-Tory refrain is a common refrain at the door," said Pannu, the former NDP leader who stepped aside for Brian Mason last summer.

"Albertans are not only getting mad at the Tories . . . for the fact that they are now saying they don't need to present themselves to Albertans with a platform, a set of policies, for the future."

Hancock conceded the Tories could do more to explain to Albertans what they have in mind for the next mandate.

"There is a lot more that we need to do to actually bring out the strategic plan and the direction and put meat on it," he said. "We're working on that."

Brownsey said the Liberals have done a much better job of setting out their objectives.

He said lacklustre Tory campaign is an insult to Albertans, but he suggested most won't notice.

"People just don't seem to care," he said. "Their lives are good; their books are balanced. What is there to complain about?"