Leadership 2009 - Week In Review, February 14

The NDP leadership race was somewhat quieter this week than the previous few, with only a couple of developments worth highlighting.

First off, Lorne Calvert's announcement that he'll be leaving the Legislature at the end of June may subtly affect the race in a couple of ways. First, the Saskatoon Riverside seat which Calvert is vacating would seem to be an ideal fit for Ryan Meili - though it doesn't look like the nomination will go uncontested.

Perhaps more significantly, though, the announcement that Calvert won't be around to mentor a new leader could raise the stakes when it comes to leadership experience. Of course, any new leader will still be surrounded by a number of MLAs with a track record in cabinet as well as plenty of resources within the party. But a longer transition period could have helped to ease a new leader into the role - while Calvert's early departure may result in some greater concern as to whether the next leader can hit the ground running.

The second main development which I'd discussed earlier was Dwain Lingenfelter's press conference to allege political interference in SaskEnergy's gas purchasing policies. So far, the accusation has mostly played out as a sparring match between Lingenfelter and Brad Wall - but as much as the other candidates would surely prefer to stick to their own themes and narratives, they'll need to find some way to inject their own messages into media coverage if Lingenfelter can keep himself in the headlines with similar stories.

Edit: fixed title.