I did vote for O'toole in the last leadership race and that was a mistake. He was nowhere near the leader that I thought he would be. He did mediocre in the debates and was not clear on many issues when facing the media which any Conservative leader should have been with a hostile crowd.
I think the Conservatives have learned a hard lesson with their lackluster performance in the last election and the popular rise of the PPC (even if they didn't win seats). The base supporter that votes Conservative want a clear alternative to the Liberals and NDP.
They have views and aims that they want their political party to reflect. Simply trying to be a lightweight version of the Liberals will not cut it.
PP to me promises to be that clear cut alternative even more so than LL. The fact that he has a tremendous amount of political experience as well as being fluently bilingual is a real bonus.
