And then there were 9: Canada's Liberal Leadership Race
The number of candidates vying for leadership of Canada's Liberal Party (and presumptive Prime Ministership, in the not too distant future) dropped to nine today, with Toronto MP Carolyn Bennett dropping from the race and throwing her support behind former Ontario (NDP-) Premier Bob Rae.
More on the flipside.
Bennett's decision, announced today at a news conference with Rae, is big boost for the ex-NDP politician.
"His values, priorities and vision best correspond to those I laid out in my campaign," Bennett said in a news release. Among those values, she said, is an independent foreign policy and a ``progressive vision of the country."
She said Rae is ready to lead the country and fight the ``retrograde policies of the Harper government in the next election."
This is, as the article says, a big boost for Bob Rae, one of the favourites in this race. Rae needs to win back Ontario, where his reputation as a leader is still tarnished (somewhat unfairly) from his time as Premier. The support of Bennett (as well as the support previously received from Maurizio Bevilacqua) represents key support in the Toronto area.
The two endorsements also suggest that an anybody-but-Ignatieff movement may be under way and, so far at least, Rae is the beneficiary.
Rookie MP and acclaimed scholar Michael Ignatieff is widely presumed to be the front-runner, yet neither Bennett nor Bevilacqua chose to throw in their lot with him. However, some of Bevilacqua's top organizers did go to Ignatieff.
While Ignatieff has the support of many of the Liberal old guard, his controversial views as well as his status as an outsider candidate, parachuted in during the last election, continue to feed opposition to his bid.
(And though Ignatieff is my MP, I find myself firmly in the "anybody but" camp.)
The leadership convention will be held in early December in Montreal.