The return of Tim Murphy?

TVO's Steve Paikin, who's also an author of significant political books (and a very nice writer), has done a blog post about why Tim Murphy, Paul Martin's former chief of staff, should run to fill George Smitherman's seat in the provincial legislature. Blog post here.

Here are  the salient bits.

 Murphy should run for that seat and here’s why:

 

·       It’s familiar territory. It’s pretty much the same turf he represented during his stint in the Ontario Legislature in the mid-1990s.

 

·       It’s a very safe Liberal seat. If he runs, he’ll win.

 

·       It’s a sure bet that Murphy will move right into cabinet, although certainly no one in the premier’s office will confirm that. With the loss of Gerard Kennedy to federal politics, Joe Cordiano to the private sector, and Michael Bryant (initially to Invest Toronto, and now with legal problems to resolve), the McGuinty government is suffering from a lack of heavy-hitters. Murphy’s addition would address that.

 

·       Finally, and we’re really getting ahead of ourselves here, if McGuinty wins re-election in 2011, then steps down a few years after that, Murphy would be ideally positioned to compete for the leadership of the party.

Comments

[wascally wabbit]

I respect Steve Paikin - but I hope he's wrong on this one.
Tim Murphy isn't liked by many good Liberals - and this Liberal doesn't think he's much of a heavyweight either - except when he's throwing it around against the good half of the Federal Liberal Party - pre- and post 2003.