Hedy Fry Raises $0 Against Her Debt!

Now that's progress Hedy! How are the other leadership candidates doing? Badly!

The Liberal party's first quarterly return also gives a glimpse of the progress – or lack thereof – being made by Dion and his erstwhile rivals to pay off their leadership debts.

Only two contenders – Bob Rae and Carolyn Bennett – have thus far cleared their debts. The rest have until June 3 to pay back their loans and settle unpaid bills, although they can ask for an extension from Elections Canada. Judging from the latest financial returns, most, including Dion, will need an extension.

Well we all know Rae is in PowerCorp's pocket, no suprise there.

Dion, who reported a debt of almost $850,000 last summer, brought in just over $12,000 in the first quarter of 2008 to help pay it off. Insiders say his debt as of June 3 may actually wind up being higher than $850,000, due to some unexpected bills and interest that's been piling up on his loans.

Dion is going backwards. You better suck up to Mo Strong, Dion, he can save you!

By contrast, Dion's deputy leader, Michael Ignatieff, pulled in almost $75,000. That doesn't include a splashy fundraising dinner last week that insiders expect netted at least $100,000.

Ignatieff wound up the leadership race with a debt of about $777,000. His campaign team estimated he had about $300,000 left to pay off before last week's dinner.

Breathing down Dion's back, we have Puffin Iggy. Maybe he can lend some of those Puffin's to Dion.

The rest:

The returns show that Martha Hall Finlay raised $2,400 toward her original debt of $261,000. Gerard Kennedy, who wound up more than $500,000 in debt, raised $2,175.

Scott Brison reported raising only $191.40 while Ken Dryden reported a meagre $25.

Brison said the return doesn't include a recent event that raised $20,000. He said he's whittled his $150,000 debt down to about $80,000 and has a number of events scheduled over the next month to eliminate it.

Dryden said he's pared his $403,000 debt down to about $300,000. He said it's been difficult raising money for a past leadership contest when the party is fishing in the same pool for money to fight a future election.

Maurizio Bevilacqua, who ended the campaign with a $296,000 debt, pulled in $50 during the first three months of the year. Joe Volpe, who wound up $246,000 in debt, and Hedy Fry, who went $160,000 into the red, reported no donations.

Look, I raise more for "Dogs with Wings" than Martha raised in 3 months. Guess not having access to brown paper bags, government funds, and corporate friends, is causing problems for the Liberals.

Liberals, big spending, big talking. Big on results? Not so much!