TORONTO - The ghosts of byelections past aren't haunting former NDP premier Bob Rae, who rallied his supporters Saturday to kick off his campaign in Toronto ahead of the holidays.
Rae, the former Ontario NDP premier turned federal Liberal, has been waiting months for the chance to win a seat in the House of Commons, one of four ridings left vacant since early last summer.
The four byelections, slated for Mar. 17, could give the Liberals and leader Stephane Dion a much-needed boost after their humiliating defeat in three Quebec byelections last September.
But that loss doesn't appear to worry Rae, the veteran of eight successful election campaigns.
"I think here there's a lot of support, I think the indications are very good,'' he said. "We've got a terrific organization and we're ready to do battle here.''
The Liberals, who won all four ridings in the 2006 general election, have a good chance of hanging onto at least three of them -- two in Toronto and one in Vancouver.
The fourth, Saskatchewan's Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River riding, is the most vulnerable, which the Liberals won in 2006 by just more than 100 votes over the Tories.
Rae's riding of Toronto Centre, comprising a diverse mix of well-heeled homes and poverty-striken neighbourhoods like St. Jamestown, has been Liberal territory for more than decade under former cabinet minister Bill Graham, who retired in July.
Rae is up against Conservative candidate Don Meredith, an activist on youth violence issues, who was acclaimed last week after party officials pushed out the riding's outspoken locally chosen candidate, Mark Warner.
The Liberal foreign affairs critic, who plans to move into the riding, said he's anxious to get in the House of Commons and grill the Conservatives on the direction of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan, currently slated to end in 2009.
"If we continue down the path that (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper wants to take us on, we're really going to be essentially engaged in a counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan, and I think that's extremely unwise,'' he said.
"I don't think that's where people want to be. I think they want to see us in a peacekeeping role. I think they want to see us in a peacemaking role.''
Rae's well-oiled campaign machine won't get into gear until Jan. 2, when the door knocking will start in earnest.
"He has the drive and the ability to connect people and to bridge people from all different groups,'' said Michelle Oliel, 26, a volunteer for Rae's campaign.
"For me, I'm an articling student -- very busy. And there's no other place or anybody that I'd rather give my time to than Bob.''
