Leadership Wrap-up
Alright folks, I messed up. My BlackBerry failed me. But I have my wrap-up right now. And I'll go through it candidate by candidate.
Martha Hall Finlay
Smart and energetic woman. She did better than anyone expected of her. And that was proven when she made her way to Dion; taking almost all her delegates (of the numbers there certainly could not be call negligable). I commend her. I hope they find a riding for her soon. Toronto Centre perhaps? Bill Graham's speech on the opening night did seem like he was announcing his retirement to me. Although, I have heard just the opposite reaction as well.
Joe Volpe
He made it to the floor. I congradulate him for that. We all gave him a difficult time this campaign, but I firmly believe this man loves this country and he cares about those that come here. I would love to see him continue on as a Minister of Immigration.
Scott Brison
Loved to see him come over to the Rae team after the first ballot. He was, after all, my actual second choice. (Of course, I knew that would never come to pass though.) Dion said it himself -- Scott Brison truly does have an innovative view of this economy. And we are very lucky to have him as a member of our party. I see him as a future Minister of Finance or Minister of the Environment.
Ken Dryden
That man had some dedicated delegate. You could tell that prior to the first ballot they felt he had a shot to still win thing. However, that was never meant to be. Using only a skeleton staff for the entire run of this campaign he proved himself to be the conscience of the Liberal Party. As Liberals we got cocky. Ken Dryden helped pull us all back from that.
Gerard Kennedy
Came out as kingmaker as I've always said. Granted that wasn't the most original of predictions. But it was one none the less, and that is how it happened. But with out a doubt this weekend was one thing for Gerard. It was that he might have had the most dedicated delegates there -- which is a great sign for the party. It wasn't the addition of the tamborine to the convention repatoire -- fantastic addition by the way. It was about Gerard Kennedy's ambition. He still wants to be Prime Minister. And I can guarantee he will run at the very next opportunity he gets. In fact, it was high ranking Dion youth organizer who said to me that has positioned himself as the next leader of this party and that she will be with him when that happens. Of course, I still hope Bob Rae can see it in himself to run again.
Bob Rae
My guy. I'm very disappointed. I truly do believe this man is the best person to be the Prime Minister of this great nation (I'm referring to Canada by the way). He presented a view of Canada that was incredibly optomistic and made many of us proud to be Canadian. He made me proud to be a Liberal, and he made me proud to follow his vision. The party as a whole may not agree with me, but I still believe he is the best man for the job. I hope he runs for leadership again. I hope to be there when he does. And for the record, I'm confident he is running in the next election. I'm thinking his old riding of Parkdale-High Park would be a nice fit. Rumour has it Gerard is going to Edmonton Centre.
Michael Ignatieff
Fine campaign. However, I have very little to say about him as a politician. I don't believe he is a good one. And personally, I just disagree with him on a number of policy points. But I will say this for him, despite the results, I still believe he has a better chance at beating Steven Harper than Stephane Dion does. I do hope I'm wrong though.
Stephane Dion
This man deserves to be leader. He earned the support of a majority of the party and earned his experience in the House of Commons. I congradulate him. I hope he can come out victorious against the current Prime Minister. He has a progressive concept of policy and he something of a quiet charisma. People said we couldn't win with Cretien either, and we managed three straight majorities. I will be there to support him.
So there it is. The leadership race breakdown. I may not be completely confortable with the outcome, but one thing is for sure -- this party is stronger than it has ever been. We are all on the same side again, and we -- the grassroots -- are reader to take on Steven Harper.
Martha Hall Finlay
Smart and energetic woman. She did better than anyone expected of her. And that was proven when she made her way to Dion; taking almost all her delegates (of the numbers there certainly could not be call negligable). I commend her. I hope they find a riding for her soon. Toronto Centre perhaps? Bill Graham's speech on the opening night did seem like he was announcing his retirement to me. Although, I have heard just the opposite reaction as well.
Joe Volpe
He made it to the floor. I congradulate him for that. We all gave him a difficult time this campaign, but I firmly believe this man loves this country and he cares about those that come here. I would love to see him continue on as a Minister of Immigration.
Scott Brison
Loved to see him come over to the Rae team after the first ballot. He was, after all, my actual second choice. (Of course, I knew that would never come to pass though.) Dion said it himself -- Scott Brison truly does have an innovative view of this economy. And we are very lucky to have him as a member of our party. I see him as a future Minister of Finance or Minister of the Environment.
Ken Dryden
That man had some dedicated delegate. You could tell that prior to the first ballot they felt he had a shot to still win thing. However, that was never meant to be. Using only a skeleton staff for the entire run of this campaign he proved himself to be the conscience of the Liberal Party. As Liberals we got cocky. Ken Dryden helped pull us all back from that.
Gerard Kennedy
Came out as kingmaker as I've always said. Granted that wasn't the most original of predictions. But it was one none the less, and that is how it happened. But with out a doubt this weekend was one thing for Gerard. It was that he might have had the most dedicated delegates there -- which is a great sign for the party. It wasn't the addition of the tamborine to the convention repatoire -- fantastic addition by the way. It was about Gerard Kennedy's ambition. He still wants to be Prime Minister. And I can guarantee he will run at the very next opportunity he gets. In fact, it was high ranking Dion youth organizer who said to me that has positioned himself as the next leader of this party and that she will be with him when that happens. Of course, I still hope Bob Rae can see it in himself to run again.
Bob Rae
My guy. I'm very disappointed. I truly do believe this man is the best person to be the Prime Minister of this great nation (I'm referring to Canada by the way). He presented a view of Canada that was incredibly optomistic and made many of us proud to be Canadian. He made me proud to be a Liberal, and he made me proud to follow his vision. The party as a whole may not agree with me, but I still believe he is the best man for the job. I hope he runs for leadership again. I hope to be there when he does. And for the record, I'm confident he is running in the next election. I'm thinking his old riding of Parkdale-High Park would be a nice fit. Rumour has it Gerard is going to Edmonton Centre.
Michael Ignatieff
Fine campaign. However, I have very little to say about him as a politician. I don't believe he is a good one. And personally, I just disagree with him on a number of policy points. But I will say this for him, despite the results, I still believe he has a better chance at beating Steven Harper than Stephane Dion does. I do hope I'm wrong though.
Stephane Dion
This man deserves to be leader. He earned the support of a majority of the party and earned his experience in the House of Commons. I congradulate him. I hope he can come out victorious against the current Prime Minister. He has a progressive concept of policy and he something of a quiet charisma. People said we couldn't win with Cretien either, and we managed three straight majorities. I will be there to support him.
So there it is. The leadership race breakdown. I may not be completely confortable with the outcome, but one thing is for sure -- this party is stronger than it has ever been. We are all on the same side again, and we -- the grassroots -- are reader to take on Steven Harper.
posted by Jordan | 9:44 PM
2 Comments:
It would be incredibly ballsy for Gerard to run in Edmonton Centre. However, even with a full volunteer load, and a fully funded campaign I would deem it unlikely that we take back the seat. The conservatives poured so much resources into the riding last time.
Gerard Kennedy has been Parkdale's MPP for the past 10 years. He is known in the riding, and has an organization in the riding. It would be untoward for Bob Rae to assume that after not running for the liberal party in four straight elections where he was asked to that he would get his choice of seats. I don't think Dion would sign the nomination papers either if Kennedy objected at all.
Bob Rae, still has to prove himself in many liberals eyes - there is a reason delegates did not follow endorsements to him, and that is the stigma of not being in the party that long at all. Once he takes out Olivia Chow, he will have shown his liberal chops.
I understand what you're saying. However, I think running GK out west would increase Liberal voters in an area where there are desperately needed.
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