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adam radwanski

Shortly after his ascent to the Liberal leadership, it was widely reported that Michael Ignatieff had pegged Don Guy to serve as his campaign director.

It seemed a sensible decision: Having masterminded a pair of election victories in Ontario for Dalton McGuinty, the reclusive Pollara executive is arguably the most successful Liberal strategist of the post-Chretien era. The problem is that it might not have been true, or else Ignatieff - or Guy - might have changed his mind.

The buzz among other Ontario Liberals is that, while Guy is still helping Ignatieff out, he won't be running the campaign. (Few people seem quite sure what, specifically, he's doing.) There's some speculation that Ian Davey may be controlling matters to a greater degree than is healthy, but I can't vouch for that. What I can vouch for is that, if it's their choice to put someone other than Guy in charge, one hopes for their sake they have a real superstar lined up.

(Note: If you came of age in Ontario in the '80s or early '90s, you may enjoy this post more if you imagine it read by either Mark Hebscher or Jim Tatti.)

UPDATE From Don Guy comes word that, media speculation notwithstanding, he was never named Ignatieff's campaign director; that role has belonged to Gordon Ashworth since last winter.

As to his level of the involvement with the campaign, he was originally expected to be in Ottawa for it. In early summer, he explains, he informed Ignatieff that for family reasons he wouldn't be as active as he'd hoped, and would not be able to relocate to the capital for the campaign.

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