Layton and the NDP are the obvious candidates of change.

Since the election, party polling numbers have been a snore. With the exception of a few blips, including the Liberal leadership race, they have hardly moved in two years.

But the “leadership” numbers (hat tip to Uncorrected Proofs for calling attention to them), are far more fluid and interesting.

Dion’s 20 point drop is massive.

And to add insult, you’ve got Scott Reid (you’ll remember him from such programs as “An Evening with a Paul Martin Government” and “Beer and Popcorn: ‘cause you can’t cram more crow in here”) publicly projecting the insecurity of Liberals with the hope that Dion will inherit the putative momentum of a party with no seats and no prospect of winning one.

Reid is right about this though: if the Barak Obama-style “change” winds start a'blowing in Canada, Dion, a cabinet minister since 1996, is even more sunk than he is now. But how sad is it that the once great "national governing party of Canada" is begging to be administered oxygen through their discredited backroom deal with Elizabeth May?

No, Scott, if the winds of progressive change carry northward it will be the NDP, the party of long-standing anti-status-quo credentials and a program for genuine change for the environment, for democratic reform and for cleaning up Ottawa, who are in the best position to benefit.

Change is what yesterday's NDP leader's summit and today's announcement of Jean-Claude Rocheleau as an NDP candidate in Quebec are all about.