Resisting the pull of cynicism since 1969.  Monday, October 02,
2006  An outsider's take on the Liberals' "super-weekend"  I
don't have a dog in the Liberal leadership fight, but I am a big
fat geek, so I've been hitting refresh on this page more times
than I can count this weekend. And now that most of the results
are in, tentative analyses can start. Here's mine:  The race has
now separated into three categories: a frontrunner (Ignatieff),
three others with a fine showing who could conceivably still win
(Rae, Dion, and Kennedy), and four also-rans who have absolutely
no chance. This is not a surprise. What makes things somewhat
more exciting, though, are some of the details. Ignatieff is the
clear front-runner, and the only one with a strong showing in
every province--but he's well short of the 50% he needs to win,
and he seems to have as many detractors as fans, which will not
serve him well on second or third ballots. Rae has also done
very well, even winning a few provinces--but his somewhat poorer
showi