Replacing Ralph...

I may be somewhat mistaken in my original prognostication about the odds for Ed Stelmach. As others have pointed out to me, he could "run up the middle" as a "second choice" candidate.

This afternoon, we find Ted Morton making similar noises, basically on the assumption that the Dinning campaign has little or no chance of gaining enough "second choice" votes to win, and presumably not enough votes to take the overall vote this coming Saturday.

It's hard to say what will happen. I suspect it has a lot to do with how many more "Instant Tories" can be constituted between now and Saturday. (Personally, I think the same problem exists for both the Morton and Dinning camps - neither has a great deal of "leverage" with the existing membership.

I'd also like to reflect a conversation I had this afternoon. We were discussing the problems with the way that this current leadership selection process is being implemented, and one of the participants pointed out a key point I had been missing. Traditionally, leadership campaigns are an opportunity for a party to "turn inwards" and reinvent itself. The PC's system this time around is very outward looking, and attempting to maximize revenues by drawing in as many "short term" members as possible. I'm a little skeptical about how effective this will be, both in terms of selecting a leader that reflects the party and its goals as well as helping the party renew itself after a fifteen year stint as "The Cult of Ralph".