Now that we’ve taken a break from that horrifying experiment in parliamentary democracy, we can shift our attention back to another horrifying experiment in democracy – the Liberal Leadership Race.

Some are now suggesting that this race should be sped up and I think that would be a mistake – we’re picking the man to lead us for the next decade, there’s no need to rush into a decision. If anything, the moral of the last week is that political decisions with long-term implications need to be thought through carefully.

With that said, I have two quick bullet points for tonight:

1. Bob Rae appears to have found his wedge issue. While Ignatieff carefully dances around the issue, Rae has embraced the idea of the coalition. It’s certainly a calculated risk by the veteran politician, as many expect the coalition to implode over the holidays. But Rae needs a game changer and this could be it, one way or the other.

2. For those of you who might want to learn a bit more about Dominic LeBlanc, Macleans has an excellent profile of him in this week’s newsstand edition of the magazine – and online. The article talks a lot about Dominic’s Liberal roots – growing up with the Trudeau kids and driving Chretien around. Although that’s all interesting, what I take from it is what should be the 10 word theme of his campaign – “Dominic can connect with voters…especially those outside of Toronto“. LeBlanc would be a leader average Canadians could relate to, and he would be a Liberal leader who could grow the party outside of it’s home turf. If he sticks to that 10 word theme, he should surprise a few people this campaign.