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and the race continues, and may acutally be a race?

A new poll released last week by Ipsos places Jim Dinning in the lead in the Alberta PC leadership race…

Jim Dinning (54%) The Frontrunner In Favourability Ratings – Lyle Oberg (48%) In Second Place With Dave Hancock (44%) Gaining Momentum

One-Quarter (26%) Of Albertans Think Dinning Would Do The Best Job As The Next Premier, But Oberg (21%) Hot On His Trail

It’s no surprise that Dinning is in the lead, but I find it very surprising that Lyle Oberg is placing second. As well, I found Dave Hancock’s third place finish and the suggestion that he is “gaining momentum” to also be interesting. I wonder if this polling actually reflects the candidate’s membership sales…

The first leadership debate for this race will take place tomorrow night in St. Albert. This is the first official Alberta PC leadership debate, which will occur before Premier Ralph Klein tenders his resignation letter next Saturday…

The contenders in this race now include Jim Dinning, Dave Hancock, Lyle Oberg, Ed Stelmach, Mark Norris, Ted Morton, Victor Doerksen, Alana DeLong, and Greg McPherson.

I’ll write more on the other contenders soon, but since the entry of social conservative Red Deer South MLA Victor Doerksen, the rumour mill has been spinning… there seem to be three main rumours surrounding Doerksen’s intentions…

1) Doerksen is running a legitimate campaign to be leader of the Alberta PC’s.
2) Doerksen is really supporting Jim Dinning, but is running in an attempt to split the social conservative vote with Ted Morton.
3) Doerksen is really supporting Ted Morton, but is running in an attempt to energize the social conservative vote so that Doerksen can drop out and endorse Morton before the selection process – making it an endorsement of another leadership candidate, rather than just an MLA.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this???

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