There it is then, Doug Ford's going to do it.
The former Toronto city councillor is going to bring his dumpster-fire bombast to the national stage. And while he hasn't explicitly said he's going to run for leader of the Conservative Party, it's the smart bet.
Coyly, he told the reporters gathered in his mother's backyard Tuesday, "As sure as I'm standing here, I'm running for something." Given he was, in fact, standing right there it's sure he's running for something, sometime. The tell that it's to lead the federal Tories wasn't in his rhetoric, though.
Ford's written a book and is going to tour it nationally. That's the tell.
It's a well-trod path. There's a long history of politicians turning to the literary stage so it seems they have more gravitas and pumps up their profile. They can tour the thing around, shake a lot of hands, take a bunch of selfies, and make a couple bucks.
Plus, you get to do all of this without worrying about pesky spending limits or paperwork or any of the other trappings of an official campaign. And if things go to hell and no one is interested? Not a problem! You were never running in the first place.
Before she was a failed mayoral candidate, Olivia Chow was the author of a memoir and doing book signings around Toronto, avoiding the question of whether she was running for mayor at every turn. It must be exhausting to pretend for that long you aren't going to do something you clearly are. A month and a half after launching My Journey, Chow was at the top of the polls and ready to finally, officially, jump in.
Hillary Clinton did it too. She brought her book Hard Choices around the U.S. nearly a year before filling the necessary paperwork. The same endless coverage followed her around the U.S., and Canada for a few stops, on her book tour. It took her almost a year and a half to file the necessary paperwork.
John F. Kennedy took a different route. It was a different era. He was seen as too young and inexperienced to be president, so writing a book was a chance to give himself a veneer of literary seriousness. The resulting tome was Profiles in Courage, a series of short biographies on the heroic deeds of the men that preceded him in the U.S. Senate. It won Kennedy the Pulitzer Prize, even though it turns out he didn't actually write most of the thing. No matter, here was a result no amount of glamour and charm could have ever won him.
These days, political memoirs are dull tomes put out that give a pleasant mix of policy outlines and soft-focus personal stories. They set broad outlines of a politicians values. Where they came from, where they'd like to go. Or, at least ideally.
Ford Nation: Two Brothers, One Vision — The True Story of the People's Mayor was started by the late Rob Ford before his cancer killed him, and his brother Doug picked up where he left off. The elder Ford made clear Tuesday he's as interested in settling scores and ginning up controversy as he is with writing a memoir of his brother's time in office and his own vision for politics. He said other politicians, the hated media, everyone really, will be torched in its pages.
But that fits with Doug's public persona as a boorish teller of whatever truth seems most likely to resonate with Ford Nation. Tuesday it was to call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a drama teacher and camp counsellor not experienced enough to head the federal government. Which, sure. But Trudeau got the job, and it's the top-line on his resumé now. Ford's a one-term city councillor and failed mayoral candidate.
In the meantime, the Conservatives who have decided they actually want the job are a cast of almost-somebodies well known to the folks who watch a lot of question period. So, while Maxime Bernier is out securing the endorsement of the likes of Calgary MP Tom Kemic, and Kellie Leitch tries to grab headlines by scaring us into wondering if immigrants have Canadian values, Ford's going to be out there signing books and stopping by morning television talking up the ghost of Rob Ford.
It's not the worst way to launch a leadership campaign.
Photo Credit: Toronto Star
