Findings from November 25 to December 1

Blogosphere Analysis – Kennedy Enjoys Momentum

Coverage in the Blogosphere is up for all candidates. Michael Ignatieff holds the lead with 411 blog posts this week from 232 last week. He is followed by Bob Rae, who received 365 stories this week, up from 142 last week. For the first time since September 1, Gerard Kennedy surpasses Stephane Dion in terms of number of blog postings with 345 posts (up from 142 last week) compared to Dion’s 262 posts (up from 137 last week). Kennedy is now closing in on Rae and Ignatieff in terms of percentage of blog postings with 20% this week, compared to Bob Rae’s 20% and Ignatieff’s 25%.

News Coverage Analysis – Hurricane Grit Hits

Overall, news coverage skyrocketed for all candidates, with the top four candidates receiving the most significant increase in news stories. Michael Ignatieff went from 67 stories last week to 825 this week, Bob Rae from 67 to 732 stories, Stephane Dion from 51 to 586 stories, thus marginally surpassing Kennedy, his closest rival in terms of number of stories for the past three weeks. Kennedy received 546 stories this week, up from 40 stories last week. In terms of percentage of coverage, there are no major changes from last week, with the exception of Joe Volpe, whose coverage went from 3% last week to 8% this week, probably because of his discussions with Bob Rae. The top two candidates (Ignatieff and Rae) in terms of percentage of news stories received 5 to 8% more stories than the bottom two (Dion and Kennedy).

Coverage of Candidates in Blogosphere Week Ending December 1: Source: Google News/Blogs, Research by Infoscape (www.infoscaplab.ca)

Coverage of Candidates in News Week Ending December 1: Source: Google News/Blogs, Research by Infoscape (www.infoscaplab.ca)www.infoscaplab.ca)" title="Liberal Leadership Candidate Weekly News Coverage ( November 25 to December 1): Source: Google News/Blogs, Research by Infoscape (www.infoscaplab.ca)" class="image preview" width="620" height="421" />Liberal Leadership Candidate Weekly News Coverage ( November 25 to December 1): Source: Google News/Blogs, Research by Infoscape (www.infoscaplab.ca)www.infoscaplab.ca)" title="Liberal Leadership Candidate Weekly Blog Coverage ( November 25 to December 1): Source: Google News/Blogs, Research by Infoscape (www.infoscaplab.ca)" class="image preview" width="620" height="422" />Liberal Leadership Candidate Weekly Blog Coverage ( November 25 to December 1): Source: Google News/Blogs, Research by Infoscape (www.infoscaplab.ca)