Initially, Campbell's popularity caused very few prominent Progressive Conservatives to enter the race, with Michael Wilson, Perrin Beatty, Barbara McDougall, and Joe Clark not making expected runs. Jean Charest had to be convinced to run by Brian Mulroney, but once in the race, he ran an energetic campaign directed by established party organizers loyal to Mulroney, who would later lead the 1993 federal election campaign team. That turned the race from a coronation into a divisive grass roots battle for delegates.
Kim Campbell received the most endorsements from sitting MPs, with 43 backing her. 38 declared their support for Jean Charest, while 15 backed Jim Edwards. Patrick Boyer and Garth Turner were both sitting MPs and neither were supported by any other sitting MP.
Though it was initially expected that Campbell's election as party leader would be little more than a formality, as the convention drew nearer it became apparent that Charest's candidacy was proving far more popular than Campbell and her team had expected, and that she might struggle to defeat him on the first round. Sure enough, Campbell narrowly failed to win outright, coming 60 delegates short of immediate victory. Charest placed a solid second, with none of the other candidates managing to break ten percent of the overall delegate count.
Edwards, who had placed third, agreed to drop out and endorse Campbell prior to the second round, which gave her the support she needed to claim victory. Despite Edwards' endorsement, however, only about half of his delegates actually did move to support Campbell; the remaining half instead backed Charest, along with virtually all of Turner's and Boyer's delegates. This left Campbell's final total as 52.7% of the delegates, making this second-only to Joe Clark's shock win over Claude Wagner in 1976 as the most closely contested Progressive Conservative leadership contest.
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