Viewers of last night's broadcast of The National learned that Canada's former Ambassador to Afghanistan, Chris Alexander, now has his eye on a seat in the House of Commons. He hopes to run in the '905' riding of Ajax-Pickering (Ontario) for the Conservative Party.
Although Alexander spent the better part of the last six years in Afghanistan, he's originally from the Toronto area.
Assuming he secures the Tory nomination in this riding, hacks and flaks across Ottawa are likely to put Ajax-Pickering on their 'ridings to watch' list for the next election (whenever that may come.)
Liberal Mark Holland has held this seat since its creation in 2004, but the Progressive Conservatives scored victories in these neighbourhoods through much of the 50s, 60s and 80s, so it's highly winnable for someone from the blue team.
The 2008 election in Ajax-Pickering was a two-man race between Holland and Tory candidate Rick Johnson. Holland won in the end, with 44.3 per cent of the votes cast, to Johnson's 37.8 per cent. But he had a heck of a fight -- the Conservatives really wanted to win, and one can only suspect they'll be pleased to have a 'star' candidate to field for the re-match.
Alexander will bring a much higher national/international profile to the race, but it's always hard to know how well that will play on the doorsteps and sidewalks of a given riding. One example to keep in mind: Major-General (ret.) Lewis MacKenzie was a similar kind of star candidate in 1997 when he ran for the Progressive Conservative Party in the rural Ontario riding Parry Sound-Muskoka. He lost.