Rae the most electable, especially in Ontario

RAE POLLED CONSISTENTLY HIGHER AMONGST THE GENERAL PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

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Polls may not mean a lot at the beginning of leadership races, when name-recognition and pundit picks reign supreme, but in their advanced stages - past the membership cutoffs, and near or after the Delegate Selection Meetings, it's fair to say that polls begin to show a clear picture of what the public wants.

If the last leadership race, which was certainly also portrayed in the media as a horserace between Mr. Rae and Ignatieff, is any indication, this clear picture of just 2 years ago was of a public that consistently expressed higher support for Bob Rae.

The Conservatives too must have had strong evidence of reason to fear Bob. They gushed in detail about how *they* had successfully pushed him out of the Liberal race, and Garth Turner (who was in the Conservative caucus at the time) recalled that Bob was far and away the candidate who Stephen Harper feared most.

Check out the below quotes and clippings, all from unique/different polls and stories:

BOB RAE: THE MOST ELECTABLE

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"26 per cent of respondents said they would vote Liberal or consider voting Liberal if Rae were at the party's helm, compared with 23 per cent for former cabinet minister Stephane Dion and 21 per cent for Ignatieff."

"In Ontario, Rae has an even wider lead over the perceived front-runner, with 11 per cent more voters saying they would vote Liberal or consider voting Liberal if he were leader than if Ignatieff won."

-GLOBE AND MAIL - 7 Sept. 2006 - http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060907.wLeadership0907/BNStory/Front

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"Among Canadians, Bob Rae is the preferred choice over Michael Ignatieff to win the Liberal leadership race..."

"The 1,211 Canadians polled between Oct. 10-12 gave Rae 26 per cent of the public vote while Ignatieff received 21 per cent. Former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy and Quebec MP Stephane Dion both received 12 per cent of the vote..."

""Bob Rae, despite a lot of difficulty and baggage that he carries having been premier in Ontario, is connecting to ordinary Canadians better than Michael Ignatieff," Antonia Maioni, director of McGill's Institute for the Study of Canada, told CTV Newsnet."

-CTV NEWS - 14 Oct. 2006 -
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061014/b_rae_061014/20061014?hub=Politics

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"As the nine-month Liberal leadership marathon entered its final days, a new poll suggested the party would fare best in an election with Bob Rae at the helm..."

"He appeared to have pull even among Ontarians, who've apparently forgotten or forgiven his rocky tenure as NDP premier..."

"Thirty-seven per cent of respondents said they would vote Liberal or consider doing so if Rae was the leader, compared with 34 per cent for Stephane Dion, 33 per cent for front-runner Michael Ignatieff and 31 per cent for Gerard Kennedy..."

"Among Ontario respondents, 46 per cent said they would or would consider voting Liberal with Rae as leader, compared to 45 per cent for Kennedy, 40 per cent for Dion and 38 per cent for Ignatieff..."

"Among respondents who voted Liberal last time, Rae was preferred over Harper by a margin of 54 per cent to 29 per cent. But an Ignatieff-Harper match was a toss up: 39 per cent of Liberals preferred Ignatieff, 38 per cent preferred Harper."

-CTV NEWS - 17 Nov. 2006 -
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061117/liberal_poll_061117/20061117?hub%3DCanada

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"A new national poll suggests Canadians of every federalist party persuasion believe that Bob Rae is a more electable option as Liberal leader than top rival Michael Ignatieff..."

"The Nov. 24-26 Decima Research survey found that Rae's perceived winnability topped Ignatieff's by a significant margin in every region of the country except Quebec..."

"In a final-ballot showdown between front-runner Ignatieff and Rae, they were asked who they felt had the best chance to win for the Liberals in the next election. Under this scenario, 37 per cent chose Rae and 25 per cent picked Ignatieff..."

"Decima CEO Bruce Anderson says the poll suggests Rae's winnability factor is perceived to be higher among all age groups, men and women, urban and rural voters, and everywhere but Quebec..."

-CTV NEWS - 30 Nov. 2006 -
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061130/rae_electable_061130/20061130/


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AND THE CONSERVATIVES DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO TRY TO STOP BOB RAE FROM BEING HARPER'S OPPONENT:

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"During my time with the Harper Party, it was an open secret that PMSH (Prime Minister Stephen Harper) was most fearful of a Rae victory, which is why Conservative operatives like MP James Moore engaged in anti-Bob dirty tricks at the Liberals' leadership convention in Montreal. Rae was considered the potential Bill Clinton of the Canadian political scene, able to be everything Mr. Harper cannot be, namely human. Mr. Harper, himself, was hoping for an Ignatieff win."

- GARTH TURNER'S BLOG, 23 July 2007, http://www.garth.ca/weblog/2007/07/23/bob/

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A gaggle of beaming Conservative operatives waited mere minutes after Bob Rae was knocked out of the Liberal leadership race before boasting about the role they played in the former Ontario premier's defeat.

Just seconds after Rae was knocked out, a prominent Tory MP wandering the convention floor pulled out a handful of buttons mocking Rae and winked mischievously.

"There's a reason we handed out so many of these,'' said B.C. MP James Moore, pointing to buttons that ridiculed Rae's track record as Ontario premier.

"They (Liberals) don't know how to play poker ... The NDP is also feeling happy right now.''

In recent months some leading Tories admitted privately that Rae was the Liberal candidate they feared the most.

Their admissions became public the instant Rae was eliminated from the race.

One Tory operative described how a handful of government supporters proliferated at Liberal parties throughout Montreal on Friday evening and handed out anti-Rae buttons...

...One Conservative aide took pride in pointing out that his party fabricated an internal party memo suggesting their troops were most afraid of Michael Ignatieff -- and most anxious to face Rae.

The ersatz memo was leaked to a pair of English- and French-language newspapers and ran under headlines that cast it as a behind-the-scenes peek at Tory strategy.

The name of Tory campaign chair Doug Finley, the supposed author of the memo, was stamped on the document as an afterthought.

The Tories then made arrangements to get the memo leaked through a third party to English and French newspapers, Tory sources said.

-CTV NEWS - 2 Dec. 2006 -
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061202/liberals_tories_061202/20061202/

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