The Toronto Star Endorses Rae

In an editorial titled, 'Rae our choice for Liberals', the editors of the Toronto Star embrace Bob Rae as the next choice to lead the Liberal party based on who offers the best chance to beat Harper's anti-progressive agenda during the next election:

When Canadians go to the polls to elect a new federal government — and that may be as early as March or April — they will face a stark choice between two competing views of this country's future.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decentralist Conservatives want to curb Ottawa's influence on the national scene and let provinces find their own way. They would use Ottawa's $7 billion surplus chiefly to cut taxes and reduce debt, rather than reinvest it in more productive areas.

Yet many Canadians would rather see Ottawa embrace an active nation-building strategy, with the surplus being used to ease poverty, improve social programs, bolster medicare, repair city infrastructure, promote a healthier environment and boost economic productivity and create jobs.

That is why it is critical that delegates to the Liberal party convention this week select a leader who can rise to the Tory challenge and who can defend the healthier belief that government has a positive role to play in fostering national unity, bettering our lives and securing the future.

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As CuriosityCat noted in the comments here earlier today, it seems that according to a new Decima poll Rae actualy has more Canada-wide support than I had previously thought:

MONTREAL (CP) - 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. More than 1,000 respondents were asked by Decima to picture themselves as delegates to this weekend's leadership convention in Montreal

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.

The results of the poll, which was distributed to The Canadian Press, are considered accurate within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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 - where Ignatieff would get 36 per cent support and Rae 25 per cent.

Ignatieff also led in the poll among self-identified Bloc Quebecois voters.

I find that last discovery very disturbing and it ought to be seriously reflected upon by anyone who supports Ignatieff's candidacy.

I'm rooting for either Rae or Dion, both of which have the experience, temperament, and left-leaning policies that I would like to see the Liberal party stand for again.

See also: 'Why I should lead [the] Liberal party' by Bob Rae and a similar plea by Gerard Kennedy in the Star.

Note: I am not a Liberal party member.