Candidates in the Alberta Tory leadership race don't have to reveal
who is donating money to their campaign or how that money is spent.

The front runners after Round 1 in the late 2006 "Replace Ralph" Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race were:

Candidate Votes Percentage Dinning 29,470 30.2% Morton 25,614 26.2% Stelmach 14,967 15.3% Oberg 11,638 11.9%

Ed Stelmach won the leadership race in the second round of voting (in an instant runoff that counted first and second choices) after Lyle Oberg, Dave Hancock, and Mark Norris endorsed him. We'll never know how much oil patch money went into Jim Dinning's campaign but he was Calgary's contender.

Though it was an exciting photo finish, maybe the Alberta oil patch bet on the wrong horse last year.