After finishing first on the first ballot of the Progressive Conservative Leadership campaign, Gary Mar received the endorsement of all three candidates who are no longer on the ballot.
Mar, who finished with 24,195 votes or 41 per cent of ballots cast in Saturday's first ballot, received endorsements from Ted Morton and Rick Orman on Monday and Doug Griffiths on Tuesday.
Mar's competitors were some distance behind him — former justice minister Alison Redford took 11,127 votes, or approximately 19 per cent, and local MLA Doug Horner took 8,635 ballots or 15 per cent of the vote.
Morton finished fourth this past weekend with 6,962 votes, Orman was fifth with 6,010 and Griffiths placed last with 2,445 votes.
Mar said he would not be sitting on his laurels, however. He said, despite his early support, he viewed the next ballot as a completely fresh start.
"On Oct. 1, there is a whole new election."
Griffiths said he was supporting Mar because he was willing to engage with him on ideas.
He said, earlier in his career when Griffiths brought private member's bills forward that challenged the government's view, Mar always engaged him on the issues.
"He is the one person who has never shrank away from my challenges. He has always taken them head-on."
Griffiths has called for a generational change in the party and said he believes Mar can still bring in new life and youth into the party.
"I think Gary has a lot of ability to do that."
Orman said his endorsement was based on Mar's broad support.
"The party spoke when they voted on the first ballot, and when I looked at Gary's results, he had pretty broad support across the province. He had urban and rural, north and south."
Orman said he disagreed with Mar on a number of policy areas, but as part of his support, he has a commitment that he will be able to influence the agenda.
"I felt that, if I supported him, I could influence the conservative side of the agenda."
Orman critiziced Mar during the campaign for having spent so much time on the government payroll, but he said the party has made a clear choice.
Orman said he doesn't view Mar's victory as a lock and the other candidates certainly should continue to represent their views.
"The only foregone conclusion is if the other two candidates drop out."
Mar and Griffiths both agreed that Redford's and Horner's runs are important for the party and for the process.
Mar also said the candidates endorsing him haven't been guaranteed any cabinet spots or other positions and that he will staff his cabinet only when he has the job.
St. Albert MLA Ken Allred, who endorsed Morton in the early part of the race, said he now supports Mar.
Allred said he wasn't driven to endorse Mar simply because Morton had.
"I think he is the best one to bring the party together."
Allred said he is supporting Mar because of his policies and his broad reach. He said he also believes it will be nearly impossible for the other candidates to defeat Mar now.
"I think it is a done deal."
Uphill climb
Horner and Redford both strongly disagreed that the campaign is anywhere near over.
"We have support out there so we are working hard to have it come out on Oct. 1," said Horner.
Redford argued her second-place finish was a surprise and it shows that her campaign is talking about something Albertans are concerned about.
"What they said to me is that the issues we have been talking about really matter to Albertans."
Both candidates expressed surprise at the endorsements Mar received from the failed leadership candidates.
"If you look at some of the comments that were made by Mr. Orman and Mr. Morton and Mr. Griffiths around Mr. Mar's campaign, you kind of wonder," said Horner. "It is interesting that they are joining his campaign."
Redford said the candidates who endorsed Mar did not bring all of their support to his campaign and she has benefited from a lot of that.
"We are merging a lot of people into our campaign at our headquarters in Edmonton and Calgary and we are building momentum," she said. "We are picking up a lot of their volunteers and organizers and supporters."
Voter turnout on the first ballot was much lower than in 2006, with 59,537 ballots cast this time around. The first ballot of the race that elected Ed Stelmach saw 97,000 votes cast and, on the second ballot, that rose to 144,000.
Redford said she expects a similar trend this time round, with voters leaping into the party in time for the second ballot. She said, in the weeks leading up to the first ballot, her campaign saw a lot more interest in the race and she expects that will only grow.
"I expect we are going to see that this time, maybe even more so," she said. "We are seeing an incredible uptake and certainly have in the past two weeks, and certainly expect that to continue.
Redford said her approach is to continue to talk about the issues.
"We are going to talk about education, we are going to talk about getting teachers back in the classroom and we are going to talk about real political engagement."
Horner said he plans to make sure people know more about his resumé, his background in business and his ability to lead the province.
"I am the only one of the three that actually has business experience to the degree that I do."
