In the long awaited anticipation that Stéphane Dion would finally come to accept that which he should have realized and done a year ago, I have been asking myself, and a few choice others, why couldn’t Jean Charest be the one?

I’ve had a few eyebrows raise, as in “that’s an interesting thought,” a couple of puzzled looks and one “that’s not on.”

Last night, a few hours after Mr. Dion put the best possible spin on the one decision he couldn’t abstain from, a Globe headline caught my attention; List of would-be leaders rises from the Liberal ashes. Perhaps someone else was thinking the same thing? Search the story, and others, and nothing, nada, zip. A host of other names but not even a hint at Mr. Charest.  

Next, a scouring of the news search engines comes up just as empty.

With that perhaps I should move on and avoid the embarrassment that may come if there’s some simple reason Mr. Charest can’t consider his options. On the other hand, I attend horse races about once a decade and for fun, I always put my $2 on the horse few others are thinking of. After all what’s the fun in winning $1.98 on a $2 bet?

I don’t know and have never met Jean Charest personally, although I was still with Decima when a few there worked behind the scenes on Mr. Charest’s Conservative leadership candidacy. I recall thinking then how different things might have been had Conservatives picked Mr. Charest instead of Kim Campbell. On the other hand, perhaps today it’s better for Mr. Charest to have the decimation of ‘93 on Ms. Campbell’s résumé, not his.

In 1998 when Mr. Charest was both pressured and recruited as Quebec’s best federalist hope, I and many others thought Mr. Charest would one day return to federal politics as Conservative leader and possibly eventually as Prime Minister. In other words I always thought, perhaps mistakenly so, that Mr. Charest wore the provincial “L” and Fleurs de Lys on his lapel more as a matter of civic duty than personal conviction.

This might explain why it took him so long, despite being native to Quebec, to realize his potential as provincial Liberal leader and Premier. A year ago, after all, Mr. Charest was all but given up for political dead. Yet if a Quebec election was held today the polls indicate he would win a comfortable Majority. If nothing else, Mr. Charest has proven he’s a survivor having twice risen from the ashes.

So lets play with this a little … why not Mr. Charest as federal Liberal leader? I mean apart from the fact he may not be interested, not a member…etc.

Frankly, while I was once among those to speculate about Mr. Charest’s triumphant return to the federal Conservatives, today I simply can’t imagine it. Roots in Mr. Harper’s Reform Party he hasn’t a shred in his DNA, nor is Alberta going to give the nod to a environmental and Kyoto-like advocate.

More to the point, the center-Left portion on the Right which Mr. Charest used to occupy when he was a Conservative, is exactly the space he is most comfortable in, and, it’s a beacon-like heading the Liberals had better discover soon before Mr. Harper stakes it his own personal claim.

Is there a politician more bilingual than Jean Charest? Is there another politician with more accomplished experience at both Federal and Provincial levels? He is certainly French and culture-rooted enough in Quebec to attract both the federal vote and soft Nationalists. Mr. Charest would be the Bloc’s worst nightmare. Outside Quebec Mr. Charest is most certainly English and ROC-enough to appease the needs of that constituency. The perception that he could be the best federalist to “handle” Quebec is, well, a bonus.     

The Conservatives would have a harder time making a caricature of someone who is nearly one of their own, although leave it to the Photoshop weenies at conservative.ca to come up with something notwithstanding Mr. Dion’s only correct and astute observation that Canadians have had enough of that tactic.

Finally, the reason the Liberals might think to coronate Mr. Charest is for all that he doesn’t represent, baggage, and for all he represents, a fresh start but a known quantity with experience.

Bob Rae, as more mature and “Bill Clinton” likeable as he may be, will have a hard time shedding his NDP imagery. Mr. Rae is the Photoshop weenies’ wet-dream.

Michael Ignatieff and Frank McKenna are, I am sorry, too old, and the new younger lesser known names within the Liberal ranks may be too much of a risk at this particular time.

Gerard Kennedy still has more time in the penalty-box for his role as Dion kingmaker.

John Manley? Perhaps.

Regardless of what the Liberal party decides, above all it can’t afford another round of divisiveness. The stern-looking Michael Ignatieff pointing his finger at his next victim saying “you simply didn’t get it done” would be Brand suicide.

Is Mr. Charest the Liberal parties’ best tactical hope and the person they should, from the get go, rally around? That’s for Liberals to chose between that in Mr. Charest or someone else, versus how they go about it.   

As for Mr. Charest, he’s at least pondering, no?