Leading nowhere

After several months of interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel being neatly edited out of far too much coverage of Canadian politics, it shouldn't come as too much surprise that she's behind Bob Rae in the latest Nanos leadership polling. But I'd think the most important news is that Rae himself hasn't made much progress.

After all, the combination of Turmel's low profile and the fact that the NDP hadn't yet started its leadership campaign in earnest made the past few months about the best opportunity Rae would ever have to distance himself from the NDP's leading lights. Yet Nanos shows Rae scoring no higher than 18% in any of the relevant leadership measures even on the most favourable possible playing field - while the NDP is holding its share of popular support from the May election.

Now, the NDP's next set of leadership contenders figures to be the main topic of discussion over the next five months. And once the leadership race is over, the new leader figures to then become the main focus for a period of several months - with many of the same advantages as Rae now holds since the Libs will be headed into their own race.

So for those of us focused on where Canadian politics are headed in the long run rather than merely where they are on an interim basis, the NDP has little reason for concern in where the current interim leaders stand. And any Libs hoping for Rae to be their saviour have reason to doubt that it's going to happen.