Globe's Big Sloppy Kiss to Bob Rae

Did you see the Globe's big sloppy kiss to Bob Rae?

There are a number of possible contenders, but one of the more promising is said to be uncertain about whether to run. Since his participation would considerably benefit the race, here's a gentle push: Bob Rae should compete for the leadership.

The Globe dismisses concerns that Rae, oh, has never been a Liberal and that his short tenure as Premier of Ontario was, oh, less than triumphant.

Given his brother John's close relationship with Jean Chretien, one has to wonder where the Chretienites stand on this.

And with the plethora of possible Toronto candidates, why is the Globe pushing so soon for Rae?

Apparently there was this thing called the Gomery inquiry. Something about golf balls? Anyway, someone wrote a book. Wait six weeks and you can get it for $4.99 in the discount bin.

In the hunt

Jane Taber says Scott Brison, Joe Volpe, Stephane Dion, Denis Coderre and Maurizio Bevilacqua are sure to run. Other big names are still sitting on the fence.

Is Martha Findley Hall Canada's Howard Dean? You know, when he came out of nowhere to almost win the nomination, before that little, uh, screaming incident.

Is it possible to have a Liberal Love In?

Martin Comeback Conspiracy

Val Sears in the Ottawa Sun says this on the Paul Martin comeback conspiracy:

I don't know about the Liberals. The combination of Paul Martin as party leader and Bill Graham as Opposition leader is a puzzlement. It's not going to make getting the Liberal message out any easier, especially if the pair find themselves at odds. Martin no longer has the communication wizards at Earnscliffe working for him and Graham is new to the real nastiness of politics.

Rumours are already buzzing about that Martin is staying in the limelight because he wants another go at leading the Liberals into an election. Okay, maybe it's far-fetched but do you see anyone on the horizon who is likely to come pounding into the Liberal leadership convention on a white horse? No.

And suppose the Conservatives stumbled over the parliamentary cliff prematurely. Martin would be another Pierre Trudeau, coming out of retirement to lead the party again.

Seriously - is he talking about the communications "wizards" at Earnscliffe who ran the last two campaigns?

62% of Canadians think David Emerson should resign and run again as a Tory.

In case you missed it, here are the Liberal critic roles.

Emerson and Stronach and Leblanc oh my

Dominic Leblanc for leader?

Does the fallout from the Emerson debacle help or hurt Belinda Stonach? Maclean's weighs in.

The Draft Ignatieff movement has a website. Note the "Iraq and Torture" section.

Stop sulking Stephen Harper, advises the irrepressible Chantal Hebert.

Louise Arbour for Secretary General?

Louise Arbour Mulling a Bid?

Another outsider candidate or simply wishful thinking? Louise Arbour for leader.

Liberal Party back in first place in national public opinion by SES. Paul Martin comeback conspiracy theorists, take note.

The survey of 1,000 people, conducted Feb. 4-9, puts the Liberals at 34% with the governing Conservatives at 33%, dropping three points from the 36% support they received on election day Jan. 23.

The Emerson debacle claims its first victim.

Let the ideas flourish and the websites flounder

The upside of Frank McKenna not entering the leadership race? A battle of ideas, apparently.

Martin Cauchon's website is "coming soon". Whatever could that mean?

Speaking of websites, Bob Rae's is registered as the The Official Website Of Bob Rae, Ex-prime Minister Of Ontario. Freudian slip, no?

Then there's JoeVolpe.ca, also recently registered. But why the ad for "The Rich Jerk - Stop being a pathetic loser and start making millions like I do" ?

Martin Comeback Conspiracy

Paul Martin suddennly reappears (slagging Emerson, of course) the same day Graham says the Grits won't support Harper's Government. Conspiracy theorists, discuss.

Jane Stewart will be Bill Graham's Chief of Staff. A dubious position for someone interested in leading the Party. So I guess we can count Stewart out.

Belinda's Biggest Challenge

Does the next leader of the Liberal Party need to be bilingual? Some people certainly think so. That could halt Belinda Stronach's putative campaign before it even starts.

Michael Ignatieff offers a stinging, though naive, critique of the failed Liberal campaign:

"Our campaign ads were a disgrace, an insult to the intelligence of the Canadian voter. We went negative and we had no business doing that. We can't do that again."

Ignatieff is fairly open about his leadership ambitions, although he takes some baby steps toward self-deprecation. He's learning how to play the game:

"Of course, I'm thinking about the leadership," he said. "I'm thinking about it as a possible candidate. But when I say I'm thinking about it, I mean just that. I'm not being coy. I don't know if I've got the language that lights the Prairies on fire."

The question to ask now is why do this in the London Free Press?

Stephen Harper has been harder to find than Dick Cheney. What's the deal? I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords.

Ignatieff in Toro

Toro, the bible for (416) metrosexuals, has a less-than-laudatory profile of Michael Ignatieff. It was free in the Globe today, so worth the price.

Bob Rae is coy

Bob Rae, fresh from successfully installing a fully functioning constitutional democracy in Iraq (Mission Accomplished, you could say), is teasing the media about his leadership prospects.

He said his order-in-council appointment, to advise the previous Liberal government on what to do about the Air-India bombing after last year's failed prosecution, did not permit him to discuss partisan politics. Asked whether he was ruling out his candidacy, Mr. Rae replied, "That's all I can say."

Rae also took time to note that his pal Michael Ignatieff joined him in Iraq.

David Emerson's defence of the day: It's Paul Martin's fault.

"Paul Martin dragged me in to work for him on a series of economic issues. I was loyal to him to the very end. He left," Emerson said of the former Liberal prime minister, who has said he will not lead his party into the next election.

Don't call it a comeback, cuz we're just gettin' warm

Leaderless, debt-riddled Grits ready for a comeback says Joan Bryden in the Star:

Only three weeks after suffering a humiliating defeat, Liberals are musing openly about whether Harper's shaky minority government can survive the year.

Surely this will make a few leadership hopefuls more likely to take the plunge.

The Hill Times says the early Tory missteps have harmed morale:

"People [some of the MPs who have been passed over] are not very happy and it's a big mistake. Throughout the election campaign, Harper talked about ethics and what did he do on the first day of his government? I don't know who advised him on this. Yesterday, I received some calls from members of the party and everybody was wondering why did Harper do this," said one top Conservative source.

In case you missed it

The leadership race has its first entrant, and she is none other than Martha Hall Findlay.

Political junkies will recognize the name. Martha was the Liberal candidate in Newmarket-Aurora in 2004, and came within a whisker of knocking off then Conservative Belinda Stronach. She had to step aside as the Grit candidate when Belinda crossed the floor last spring.

Is she crazy? Perhaps. Is she credible? Absolutely. As Andrew Coyne has noted, she comes with one heck of a resume.

I like her timing. The furor over the Emerson defection has generated sympathy for the victims of "political turncoatism." Martha could be the poster child. Not a bad time to throw your hat in the ring. She was not going to get a huge amount of press coverage anyway, so there was little downside associated with announcing at the same time that a big story (like Emerson/Fortier) was occupying the media's attention. What the heck.

Do Grits Need a Leader?

With a Tory government like this, do the Grits really need a new leader?

Emerson blocked softwood deal.

Emerson slammed.

Emerson should resign and run again.

As Lawrence Martin says in the Globe:

Say it isn't so. Not another Tory shipwreck. Not before it even leaves port.

Does Emerson move pave way for Anne?

The defection of David Emerson to the Blue Team may have created on opening in the Liberal leadership race for Anne MacLellan. The scuttlebutt is that MacLellan is keen on entering the race, and with Emerson's defection the list of possible western candidates just got smaller.

What's interesting is that several sources on the inside indicate that she is actually positioning herself as the "Atlantic" candidate in the race by playing up her Nova Scotia roots. In fact, rumour has it that Anne has her eyes on Halifax for her next parliamentary run. Stay tuned.

Crossing Over

Stephen Harper ran a focused, disciplined campaign. But his first act as PM is drawing fire with people complaining about a lack of ethics in bringing over Grit David Emerson and the appointment of Tory apparatchik Michael Fortier to the Senate and as Public Works minister. Curious way to address the democratic deficit. At least Bay Street is happy.

What is the Liberal response to this major reversal?

The interim leader, Bill Graham, said there seemed to be "an absence of consistency" throughout many of Harper's appointments, noted the Toronto Star.

Ooooh. Harsh...keep some of your powder dry...

Emerson Over & Out

Well, I guess you can count out former Industry Minister David Emerson in the Liberal leadership, given that he's crossed the floor to serve as "Minister of Take That Belinda Stronach" in the new Harper Cabinet.

Somewhere, Stronach and Scott Brison are appalled.

Harper's Day

Stephen Harper names his cabinet today, an event that has been surprisingly leak-free. Watch the artful suppression of Peter McKay begin today and continue until it climaxes in an explosion of tears and recriminations in the government lobby.

Liberal wannabes will be keeping a low profile today but calls are continuing to be made across Canada to gauge support.

Outspoken Grit Warren Kinsella, the sad punk, offers this on the phony-war stage of the Liberal leadership race:

Am I preoccupied by the so-called Liberal leadership race? No, not at all, but I am in fact slightly irritated by it. I mean, for the love of God, people! We’re mere hours away from a new Prime Minister, a new cabinet, and a new government, and the Parliamentary Press Gallery continues to imply that we should actually, truly give a shit about Scott Brison’s Blackberry etiquette. Guess what, fellas: we don’t. None of us care, not even the Liberal ones. We want to see the Liberal Party of Canada get more than just a new leader. We want to see new ideas, new people, new approaches. When that happens, the Liberals may be returned to power.

Surprisingly, Kinsella has nothing to say about his BFF David Dingwall's generous severance package.

Rock Out

Another Chretien cabinet minister said no to running for the leadership. Allan Rock, proud pappa of the gun registry, will pass.

"I've considered it and discussed it with my family, and we've decided that there are many ways to serve Canada and I am not going to take part in the leadership race," Rock said.

So what about Ken Dryden? On paper, he's a superb candidate. A legendary hockey player, an accomplished writer and an actual deep thinker. So why didn't he make more of a splash as Minister of Social Development? With a charisma implant, he would be formidable.

Yesterday we mentioned that Scott Brison is suddenly speaking French. According to his assistant, he should be doing better at it. At least that's what she mistakenly emailed a group of Liberal Senators.

Outside Toronto cocktail parties, does anyone know Michael Ignatieff?

Paul Martin has got Liberals asking 'how can we miss you if you won't go away?'. In a bizarre Al Haig like quest for something that looks like power, Martin is pretending to hand over the reins of power to interim leader Bill Graham. But he is hanging on to the title and power of party leader, making some believe he's plotting a comeback.

"Who's in charge?" Sue Barnes, newly re-elected as an MP from London, asked publicly yesterday. Others, signalling the state of wounded distrust in the defeated ranks, wondered more discreetly yesterday if this was a way for the Martin team to cling to power and plot a comeback by toppling the Conservative minority government.

Suddenly, Scott Brison speaks French.

Who will step up?

First Manley, then McKenna and now Tobin- the top three potential successors to Paul Martin have quickly taken themselves out of the race.

‘‘But I think it’s time for new blood and I think it’s time for new players and I think this is an opportunity for the Liberal party to renew itself and, in the process, to heal itself a little bit as well," said Captain Canada.

Who will step up? Is there a Trudeau lurking among the would-be leaders? Or is the Liberal Party destined for a long stay in Opposition.

The Star thinks the lack of a frontrunner will actually help with the renewal of the Liberals. They identify the early names:

...there are many potential leadership contenders who are weighing their options. Among them are Stéphane Dion, who has held several key cabinet posts under both Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin; Michael Ignatieff, the Harvard University human rights professor and international author who was newly elected in Etobicoke Lakeshore, former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae and Liberal MPs Belinda Stronach, Scott Brison, Maurizio Bevilacqua and Martin Cauchon.

The fact the race is suddenly wide open may provide a rare opportunity for Liberals to delve into the broader issue of the direction of the party and to answer the question: "What is liberalism in the 21st century?"

The never charming Chantal Hebert weighs with a warning that the Liberals could end up like the PQ. But the best part is her burn on onetime Tory boywonder Bernard Lord:

A final consequence of McKenna's decision to stay out of politics is that there will not be a New Brunswick duel for the hearts and minds of Canadians in the near future after all. Even before McKenna pulled his name off the Liberal list, Bernard Lord's prospects as a future Conservative leader had become more remote.

Among other things, the election has revealed that Lord may have the shortest political coattails of any premier in the country (except maybe PEI's Pat Binns). While Jean Charest's blessing for Harper's more open federalism gave the Conservatives a lift in Quebec, Lord's active efforts in New Brunswick translated into a measly one-seat gain for the Tories.

Lord's main federal asset always was his presumed potential to make inroads in francophone Quebec. In the wake of the election, there is no longer as much of a market for his services on that particular front.

Ouch.