Chisholm Bows Out of NDP Race

... and then there were eight.

Robert Chisholm has become the first person to drop out of the NDP leadership race, leaving just (just!) eight other contenders to compete for the job of being the subject of Tory attack ads for the next four years. Chisholm, the former leader of the Nova Scotia NDP, says he's leaving the race due to the fact that he can't really speak French, a necessary ability when the the majority of your caucus comes from Quebec. That inability led to one of the funnier moments of the first NDP debate, when Chisholm started reading a prepared statement in French, gave up halfway through, and spent the rest of the French part of the debate speaking English. Chisholm, one of the NDP's sharper parliamentarians, will now be able to help out the party on the floor of the House of Commons once Parliament resumes in January. His departure whittles the field down to Brian Topp, Thomas Mulcair, Niki Ashton, Martin Singh, Romeo Saganash, Peggy Nash, Paul Dewar, and Nathan Cullen.