{"id":417,"date":"2005-07-25T16:31:00","date_gmt":"2005-07-25T20:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=417"},"modified":"2005-07-25T16:31:00","modified_gmt":"2005-07-25T20:31:00","slug":"the-unofficial-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=417","title":{"rendered":"The Unofficial Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Bob Rae talk <\/a>bellow, I got to thinking about the Liberal Leadership race. I did some Liberal Leadership Speculation last winter <\/a>but a lot has happened since then, so it\u2019s likely worth revisiting.<\/p>\n

The Contenders<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

John Manley<\/strong>: Likely still the front-runner and, in my opinion, he has the most substance of any of the serious candidates. But his obsession with not wanting to be disloyal to the leader is hurting him vis-\u00e0-vis the other contenders on the ground game.
My advice<\/em>: Participate in a US flag burning or something to dispel the \u201cpro-American\u201d label.<\/p>\n

Scott Brison<\/strong>: Rumour has it that Herle and a lot of the other Martinites are quietly laying the groundwork for a Scott Brison leadership run. And, you know, if he loses he can always jump to the NDP or Bloc.
My advice:<\/em> Say anything of substance at some point. So far, he\u2019s been nothing more than a pretty \u201clet Justice Gomery do his work\u201d doll.<\/p>\n

Martin Cauchon<\/strong>: Has developed a habit of \u201ccoincidently\u201d bumping into Liberals at conventions and conferences.
My advice<\/em>: Don\u2019t talk to your fishing buddy Jean Lafleur\u2026ever again.<\/p>\n

Frank McKenna<\/strong>: If there\u2019s a leadership race within the next year or two, he likely won\u2019t run. It will likely take him at least two or three years to get on the same page with the government on missile defense anyways.
My advice<\/em>: Make sure nobody reminds Liberal delegates of the record of Provincial Premiers who believe they are Prime Minister material.<\/p>\n

Those who have deluded themselves into believing they are contenders<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe Volpe<\/strong>: Unless he goes Tony Soprano over the other candidates, it ain\u2019t gonna happen.<\/p>\n

Maurizio Bevilacqua<\/strong>: I keep getting mail-outs from his guy explaining how Maurizio slayed the deficit and orchestrated eight straight balanced budgets.<\/p>\n

The Academics<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Ignatieff<\/strong>: He\u2019s definitely been the hot topic at Liberal barbecues this summer. How he does in Cabinet will make it or break it for him.<\/p>\n

Stephane Dion<\/strong>: Hasn\u2019t been organizing but he\u2019d make for a very intriguing and popular candidate if he did run. His best chance would likely be at a Liberal Leadership convention which happens about a month after a PQ victory in Quebec.<\/p>\n

Remember Me?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brian Tobin<\/strong>: For a guy who likes to make a lot of noise, he\u2019s been really quiet. I doubt he\u2019ll run but the guy did call his autobiography \u201cAll in Good Time\u201d so ya never know.<\/p>\n

Bob Rae<\/strong>: The mere fact that people are actually speculating about Bob Rae running shows how shallow the talent pool is.<\/p>\n

Intriguing, but I wouldn\u2019t count on it<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Belinda Stronach<\/strong>: \u201cBeing Prime Minister is a very complex job. But if we just grow the economy and bake a bigger economic pie\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Dryden<\/strong>: Deflecting shots from right wingers since 1971.<\/p>\n

Dalton McGuinty<\/strong>: Maybe in 5 or 6 years\u2026<\/p>\n

Token Western Candidate<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reg Alcock<\/strong>: Honestly, I think the Liberal Party will likely look a bit higher up in the gene pool for their next leader. Sorry, Reg.<\/p>\n

David Emerson<\/strong>: You know, because it might be the only possible way for him to ever get his name in the news. I doubt that even political geeks could name Canada\u2019s Industry Minister.<\/p>\n

Ralph Goodale<\/s> Jack Layton<\/strong>: Only because the Finance Minister is always a possible candidate.<\/p>\n

Ujjal Dosanj<\/strong>: Ha ha. Just kidding.<\/p>\n

Token Female Candidate<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Anne McLellan:<\/strong> Would allow her to dust off a few more Richard Nixon campaign slogans.<\/p>\n

Umm\u2026uhh\u2026ahh\u2026.I dunno\u2026.Sheila<\/strong>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Bob Rae talk bellow, I got to thinking about the Liberal Leadership race. I did some Liberal Leadership Speculation last winter but a lot has happened since then, so it\u2019s likely worth revisiting. The Contenders John Manley: Likely still the front-runner and, in my opinion, he has the most substance of any of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}