Barely twelve hours after greeting throngs of supporters in his crowded hospitality suite, with deputy Charlie Angus belting the song "Rocket 69" on his acoustic guitar in the background, NDP leadership candidate Paul Dewar was visibly shaken when he found out the first ballot results placed him fifth out of seven choices.
The Ottawa Centre MP received only 4,883 votes, or 7.5 per cent of the opening round's total March 24.
"It was a bit of a surprise in terms of the numbers. But I also knew that this was going to be wide-open," an introspective Dewar said.
His next move was to announce his withdrawal from the race.
Dewar stopped short of endorsing a competitor, but freed his supporters to make their own choice for leader.
"I thought it was important to let people go where they wanted to."
His right-hand man, MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) swiftly endorsed leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair.
"Mulcair is the other person who can lead this country," Angus told reporters. "In my region, Timmins-James Bay people are very engaged with the NDP. Paul Dewar had a lot of support in my region . . . I heard some people who said 'if Paul Dewar doesn't make it, (Mulcair) is our vote back home'."
Despite the 49-year-old’s imaginative use of hip-hop and fiery rhetoric against Prime Minister Harper the day before the results, his faltering use of French was widely cited as the reason for his poor convention showing amongst colleagues and commentators.
The NDP's enormous strides in Quebec, clinching 58 of 75 House of Commons seats last May, meant competency in French was essential to lead the Official Opposition.
One of the NDP’s Quebec victories, Gatineau MP Françoise Boivin, cited Dewar’s lack of French fluency as the “only glitch in his campaign.”
“A lot of people realize, because of our success in Quebec, you definitely need to be bilingual.”
The fear of losing Quebec forced NDP members in the 11th hour before the first ballot was closed to vote against him, according to Boivin.
“Other than the language glitch, my hats off to him. He was and is a great guy,” said the Brian Topp supporter.
Interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel declined to comment on Dewar specifically, but she said that the system of voting left three “fully bilingual” candidates on the table – Nathan Cullen, Brian Topp, and frontrunner Thomas Mulcair.
“We had seven great candidates (at first ballot) and I can work with any of them. It’s up to the membership to choose which of them is the best to represent the party.” said Turmel.
Dewar said he was "never hiding" the fact that his French was still a work in progress.
He said he thought that MPs and party supporters would be able to see beyond his still-improving French language skills.
"I had my Quebec colleagues come on board who thought ‘it’s good enough and he’ll be able to carry our party and not only keep Quebec but grow outside'."
After announcing his bid for the party's leadership, Dewar enlisted the aid of a French language tutor. The tutor traveled with him across the country on the six-month campaign.
"I made great progress throughout and earned a lot of respect from people," Dewar said.
In the end, his hard work failed to convince enough of the 131,000 party members across the country to select him as leader.