First steps

A quick update on the Saskatchewan NDP leadership race, which looks to be showing signs of getting interesting.

First, at least one potential challenger to Dwain Lingenfelter has taken some concrete action to put his name up for consideration, and also started putting forward substantially the type of message that I for one would like to see out of a contender:

Yens Pedersen, the party president who has temporarily stepped down as he contemplates his own leadership run, said recently he's still weighing his own options and seeing who else gets in the race.

But he expressed his dissatisfaction with Lingenfelter.

"Here's my criteria. What I want to see in a leader is someone who is committed to party renewal, I want to see someone who is committed to doing something about the environment. I don't think I really see that in Dwain Lingenfelter.

"I want to see someone who can unify the party, I want to see someone who can connect with young voters and rural voters. And again, in all of those categories, I'm pretty skeptical about Dwain Lingenfelter's ability to do that," said Pedersen, who narrowly lost as the NDP candidate in Regina South in last November's provincial election.

The fact that Pedersen has stepped down as party president seems to have slipped largely under the radar. To my knowledge, the move makes him the first candidate other than Lingenfelter to put any other personal positions on hold based on the leadership race - and it certainly hints that he has some serious intention of joining the fray.

Of course, most candidacies come with at least some questions which need answering. And for Pedersen, the biggest question (which may well have a solid answer) looks to be the connection between Pedersen's current words and his actions.

After all, when he won the presidency at the NDP convention earlier this year, he did so based on much the same ideas which he's now putting forward. That being the case, I'd expect Pedersen to speak from experience about what he's already done to bring new members into the party, connect with young and rural voters, and otherwise help to renew the party since he took over that role.

If there's evidence that Pedersen has indeed made strides in those areas, then he would seem a natural choice as the candidate of youth and renewal. On the other hand, if Pedersen hasn't been able to make progress toward the same ends as party president, then it'll be tough to entrust him with an even more important position. Which means that the question of how much Pedersen has done to turn the ideas into practice would seem to be the most important one facing his candidacy.

Meanwhile, Lingenfelter himself seems to be taking halting steps toward the view that other candidates should be stepping up:

Lingenfelter -- who has the backing of nine members of the 20-person NDP legislative caucus -- said he fully expects there will be opposition to his candidacy, as is the case in almost all political contests...

Lingenfelter -- whose campaign theme portrays him as the best bet to take on Premier Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party in the 2011 election -- said it's up to those arguing for new blood to get in the race and let the voters decide at the NDP convention next June.

Whatever one's take on Lingenfelter as a candidate, that's a position which NDP supporters should be able to agree with. And hopefully before too long, Pedersen and others will have fully engaged in the race.