Rae: "It's not a campaign about ideas"

No doubt about it, Rae has been moving up in the polls and in the eyes of many Liberal voters. I never game him a second thought, thinking he would be no higher than Volpe, even up until the middle of August.

However, around that time, I got to liking him a bit, and even seeing him as one of those candidates who, while still probably 5th or 6th on my ballot, I could live with as leader.

But this from Far and Wide I just read (quoting from a Macleans article) really disturbed me. Apparently, Rae is running a campaign not on ideas, but on the leader and personality. And not just not running on ideas, but running away from ideas. It's one thing to be like Ignatieff and admit that your ideas might be unpopular, but it's another thing entirely to admit that you don't care about the ideas and vision for the party.

This was probably one of the most overriding reasons why I like Kennedy. He not only is youthful and energetic, but he also has good ideas and visions, and he seems to really be interested in reforming the party. He was on Countdown tonight, and kept re-iterating his vision for reforming the powers of the PM. You can tell by his speeches that he doesn't just care about trying to eke out a win in this next election, but really bringing new life and new ideas into the party. I think he really seems to be the guy who will be able to not just lead the party the next couple years but will actually be able to give us a direction to follow to get us back on the winning path.