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David Bertschi kicks off unofficial start to Liberal leadership race

The Liberal Party finally has a declared leadership candidate of note - sort of.

On Monday, the CBC reported that Ottawa-based attorney David Bertschi has launched a "grassroots exploratory committee" for a potential leadership run complete with a website, and an on-line ad.

According to the CBC, the slick ad was produced by renowned Canadian-American political filmmaker Lucas Baiano, who also produced ads for two former U.S. presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

Bertschi doesn't have a lot of profile outside of Ontario. In the last election, he ran for the Liberals in Ottawa-Orleans but lost to Conservative incumbent Royal Galipeau.

Nevertheless, Bertschi's interest marks the unofficial start to a race that's been pretty much non-existent.

There are also some rumblings about other candidates who are also in the 'exploratory' stage. Last week, Liberal Party president Mike Crawley said six or seven individuals had already contacted him about the possibility of running.

In his column for the Toronto Sun Tuesday, Liberal insider Warren Kinsella names seven potential candidates.

His list includes current MPs Justin Trudeau, Bob Rae, Denis Coderre, David McGuinty and Marc Garneau; and former MPs Gerrard Kennedy and Martha Hall Findlay.

Kinsella seems high on Garneau, Coderre and McGuinty, but says Trudeau is just not ready.

"Good with the fisticuffs, but still has a thing or two to learn before getting into the ring with Stephen Harper," Kinsella wrote.

"Needs lots more training."

And why should anybody care about a third party leadership race?

Because politics is unpredictable, says Kinsella.

"Everyone (except Your Humble Narrator, naturally) thought Wildrose would form a big, honkin' majority government in Alberta, and they didn't," he wrote.

"Everyone (except, er, me) didn't foresee Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty climbing back from a double-digit polling deficit to win big last fall. Everyone (except, um, you know who) failed to prognosticate the NDP becoming Her Majesty's official opposition in last year's general election."