Can a little-known policy wonk win the Liberal leadership race?

Dylan Marando looks pretty young for a guy who wants to be the next leader of the Ontario Liberals — so much so that I had to ask him his age. He had clearly anticipated the question. “Same age as David Peterson when he won the leadership!” he says, referring to the man who won the 1982 convention and became Ontario’s 20th premier three years later.

That’d be 38 years-old, incidentally.

Since I’m betting you’ve never heard of Marando (or, if you have, you likely don’t know much about him), let me describe him for you. He reminds me of a young Dalton McGuinty, back when Ontario’s 24th premier was seeking the party leadership in 1996: earnest, policy-focused, friendly, and well aware that he’s battling huge odds.

McGuinty managed to win.

So, who is Dylan Marando? For starters: Yes, he’s named after the famous singer. “My dad is an Italian hippie,” Marando told me when we met up at a coffee shop in midtown Toronto. “He loved Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan is a very romantic and poetic and aspirational figure to grow up to. So, I think I probably need to do something else audacious, as I’m doing right now.”

Marando says he’s listened to every Dylan song “at least 10,000 times,” and the first dance at his wedding with his wife was “Make You Feel My Love.”

Now that he’s in politics, he’s singing a different tune: “oh the times they are a-changin’”

“I thought about that as a campaign slogan, but […] This is an excerpt. Read the full article at TVO.org.