When Manley pulled out, many people offered their condolences. Now it is the turn for this blog to offer them. Godspeed and good luck

Martin Cauchon for PM

Cauchon to join list of heavyweight Liberals passing up leadership bout

By JOAN BRYDEN

OTTAWA (CP) - Martin Cauchon is poised to join the list of star Liberals taking a pass on the once-mighty party's leadership.

The former justice minister is expected to announce later this week that he won't throw his hat in the ring to succeed Paul Martin.

According to insiders close to the Chretien-era minister, Cauchon has decided he can't pursue the leadership without sacrificing his commitment to his young family. Cauchon, currently practising law in Montreal, is father to three children under the age of eight.

Cauchon's decision brings to five the number of heavyweight candidates who've bowed out of the race - almost twice the number who've actually declared their candidacy so far.

Among those who won't run are former premiers Frank McKenna and Brian Tobin, former deputy prime minister John Manley and former minister Allan Rock.

Only three candidates have declared their intention to run so far - Toronto lawyer Martha Hall Findlay, former junior minister John Godfrey and bad boy fiddler Ashley MacIsaac, whom some Liberals privately suspect is using the contest to promote his latest album.

In early February, Cauchon came close to announcing that he would not run. But his core organizers urged him to take a little more time before reaching a conclusion.

Then in late February, Cauchon gave a speech at the University of Ottawa in which he seemed to be positioning himself as the candidate of change. He challenged Liberal orthodoxy by appearing to endorse the notion of a fiscal imbalance between Ottawa and the provinces and indicating a willingness to at least debate private delivery of public health care.

An insider close to Cauchon acknowledged that the speech was intended to position the former minister for the leadership race, particularly hoping to capture support in his home province of Quebec.

However, the insider said: "At the end of the day, the family argument was too strong."

Cauchon had put together a reasonably strong organization, which included some of former prime minister Jean Chretien's senior strategists such as Paul Genest and Raj Chahal. The insider doubted Cauchon's team would move en masse to any other candidate.

Nearly 20 potential candidates are testing the waters, although many may ultimately decide not to take the plunge. The vast majority hail from Toronto so the loss of a non-Toronto candidate like Cauchon is significant for a party that contends it is national in scope.

Among the putative contenders are former ministers Stephane Dion, Joe Volpe, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Ken Dryden, Denis Coderre, Belinda Stronach, Scott Brison and Ralph Goodale, acclaimed academic and rookie MP Michael Ignatieff and former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae.

A successor to Martin will be chosen at a convention in Montreal from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.