Swompdonkey

Mug's game

At this point, it is anybody's guess. Dryden left jaws on the floor by, gasp, showing a bit of passion. He ain't going out like a punk. Dion did OK, but whoever was supposed to time him on the floor of the convention should be drawn and quartered. The end of his speech will go unheard for all time, a victim of the rigorous timekeeping that is the order of the day for this convention.

Kennedy impressed, and he alone spoke of the need for Libs to do a bit of introspection... but how much of an apetite is there for that? I mean, who are we kidding? This is the Liberals we are talking about. Their number one priority is regaining power.

Rae spoke best to that inate desire, I think. He riffed sans script through his entire speech. Hebert suggested he may have damaged himself with Quebec delegates by speaking so little French, but that remains to be seen. It sounded to me like he was auditioning for the job of PM. Policy? Fresh ideas? Screw that! Bob Rae is the guy with experience and political smarts, the guy who can win the next election. Forget introspection, or a quest to cleanse the party of past sins. He is the cynic's choice; the guy who has the backroom boys in his corner and the guy who will deliver electorally as quickly as possible.

Joe Volpe was later seen welded to Rae's posterior. After first ballot, his butt belongs to Bob. hankering for a cabinet seat, Volpe? Never let it be said that Mr. Volpe ever let an opportunity to cheapen the political process pass him by.

This thing is Ignatieff's to lose and he may be in the process of losing it. The speech was so-so. He needed to set the place of fire to cement his place as the front runner, but he produced nary a spark. That, plus the first ballot results that show he did not reach 30% may mean that things will get awful interesting tomorrow. Let' s all have a gander...