Ignatieff grabs early lead in Liberal delegate-selection

Globe and mail CAMPBELL CLARK OTTAWA — Michael Ignatieff took a significant lead in the first day of voting for delegates to the Liberal leadership convention, but a cluster of three contenders are still vying for second place. Stéphane Dion, Bob Rae, and Gerrard Kennedy were bunched together in the second tier, with none yet emerging as the clear rival to Mr. Ignatieff. The unofficial results still represent only about 20 per cent of the roughly 4,500 delegates to be elected by Liberal Party members in three days of "super-weekend" voting and, while they appear to show some clear trends, those trends could be overturned in later voting. Mr. Ignatieff took the lead with 27.6 per cent of the delegates elected so far, substantially ahead of Mr. Dion, with 18.5 per cent. Mr. Rae was a close third, with 17.9 per cent, while Mr. Kennedy had 14.3 per cent. The four remaining contenders each had less than 10 per cent: Scott Brison had 7.5 per cent of delegates, Ken Dryden had 5.9, Joe Volpe garnered 3.8 per cent, and Martha Hall Finlay, 1.8 per cent. About 2.7 per cent of the delegates were undeclared, meaning they are not committed to any candidate.