So much for the triumphant coronation...

Interesting. I'm not entirely certain what to make of the fact that Pauline Marois has decided to run against Gilles Duceppe for the leadership of the Parti Québécois.

To read most of the press coverage to date, it is tempting to conclude that this is simply a matter of Duceppe not being overly popular among the PQ's elected MNAs, and perhaps being mistrusted as an "outsider" by PQ party militants.

However, I'll stick my neck out and offer another possible explanation. Earlier reports today had the Marois and Duceppe people feeling each other out. I'm going to suggest that they might have jointly decided that it would be better for the party (and the separatist movement) to have an active leadership race, featuring at least two high-profile candidates, than to simply hand the job to Duceppe, and thereby reinforce the perception that the PQ leadership is a job that nobody really wants. I'm by no means certain that this is the case, especially given the deeply rooted animosities within the PQ tent, but I'm in the mood for thinking outside the box on a Friday afternoon.

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