Iggy makes his move

Michael Ignatieff took the gloves off on Sunday, according to this Globe and Mail report:

Toronto MP Michael Ignatieff launched a bulldozer charge at the federal Liberal leadership on Sunday, campaigning for the party's parliamentary caucus to elect him immediately as an interim replacement for Stéphane Dion.

Mr. Ignatieff's organizers said Sunday night they had the support of at least 55 of the party's 77 MPs, including Mr. Dion's most vocal supporter, suburban Toronto MP Bryon Wilfert, and MP Maurizio Bevilacqua, who chaired the 2006 leadership campaign of Mr. Ignatieff's major opponent, Bob Rae.

In addition, leadership contender Dominic LeBlanc flew to Toronto Sunday night to meet with Mr. Ignatieff. He is widely expected to drop his leadership bid and pledge support to Mr. Ignatieff on Monday, along with a group of Atlantic MPs and senators.

Of course, sometimes even the most stubborn man can read the writing on the wall.

The comments on the original article got quite interesting, as this example (of 750) shows:

Introverts Unite from Toronto, Canada writes: Here's the scenario the way I see it. The election ended. Dion doesn't believe he's lost and goes into seclusion. Seclusion means sitting on the phone hatching a plot with Jack and Gilles who also conveniently disappear or at least Jack does. They can't come to an agreement. Bob Rae finds out about it. Decides it's a quick ticket to jump past Iggy in the leadership race and unite the left. He calls papa Chretien and brother John, both officers in Power Corp to facilitate and Jack calls in Ed Broadbent. As Dion is Chretien's protege, he is quickly persuaded to agree to a power sharing with Layton with the understanding that Bobby will take over once the coalition has overthrown Harper. Bobby will become spokesperson for the coalition and it's ultimate success will knock Iggy out of the race. That way Power Corp retains the reins of the government and the Liberal Party, and Bob gets to be leader. Paul Desmarais (owner of Power Corp) puts the finger on Duceppe to not throw a wrench into the agreement. Harper meanwhile finds out about all of this and throws a fit in the form of the economic 'Plan' taking all their money away. The coalition can't back down now and does the formal signing and tries to throw mud at Harper to cover their backsides. Iggy is enraged but appears to try being a team player while not divulging his hand. Harper knows that his coalition is toast but still has to treat it as dangerous. Dion, meanwhile is not being the patsy and is trying to take control of the coalition. Dion bombs out. Rae is livid, so is Layton. Their dream of uniting the left is in tatters. Rae goes on a rampage vowing to bring down the Conservative government regardless of whether a good budget is presented or not. Iggy realizes that things are getting out of control with Bob about to launch into a trans Canada speaking tour to sell the coalition. The middle of the road Liberals decide to pull the plug on Bob and anoint Iggy.