Martha Hall Findlay and Gerard Kennedy are not running. Its down to Ignatieff, Rae and Leblanc. Why? Well, there is a small chance it has something to do with this:
In addition to the date and location of the Convention, the National Executive has set the entry fee for Leadership candidates at $90,000 and the spending limit at $1.5 million. A levy of 10% will also be imposed on directed donations. - Doug Ferguson Press Release, Nov. 8th
I guess we now know the answer to who is winning this argument. Needless to say, Mr. Ignatieff is now most likely to win at the Convention in May.
If Michael Ignatieff wins the leadership, this will the most right wing Liberal party in history. From what I have read up on, he is nothing like his father in his views. I worry about him taking over the leadership. (Please refer to his paper on the Iraq invasion).
Bob Rae is a little more sympathetic and emphatic towards humanity. On a federal level he may be satisfactory as Prime Minister as he empathizes with the war resisters. I have seen him at rallies side by side with war resisters. This takes some guts and courage. Normally a leader would not want to be seen by a war resister if he were afraid to stand up to the US. But hopefully with Obama in as President elect, Canadian principles do not have to be bent as much as they have been in the past with Stephen Harper as our leader (I hate writing the name Stephen Harper and the word leader in the same sentence).
Now as for Leblanc, I need to read up on him. What is he like, Vlad? Do you know a lot about him? I will be following the Liberal party leadership closely, as I will with the NDP. These are the two parties that put my support behind, depending on who is in leadership.