With Ken Dryden’s announcement, we now have the group of ten who will form the main contenders in the Liberal leadership race (baring surprises…c’mon Hedy!).

Campbell Clark had a good run down of the candidates here. And, despite claims that the “big names” didn’t want to run, there really is something for everyone in this field. There’s no dauphin in this race and anyone who tells you they know who will win this thing is full of themselves (that’s your cue Toronto Liberal!). Instead, we have ten candidates from incredibly diverse backgrounds, with very different positives and negatives. A lot of them are unknown and, looking back at my leadership speculation from last summer, it’s pretty obvious that few of them were on my, or anybody else’s, radar screen a few months ago.

So let the race begin! While it’s far too early to judge how the candidates are faring, this would be my assessment of first ballot support at this point:

1. Michael Ignatieff
2. Gerard Kennedy
3. Bob Rae
4. Stephane Dion
5. Joe Volpe
6. Scott Brison
7. Ken Dryden
8. Maurizio Bevilacqua
9. Martha Hall Findlay
10. Carolyn Bennett

But a lot can change between now and December. Should be fun.

Update: Ken Dryden gets on HNiC tonight, thereby giving him an infinitely larger audience for his launch than all the other nine put together.