First round results of the PC Party of Ontario are now in. Tim Hudak leads with 3,512 votes, followed by Frank Klees with 3,094, Christine Elliott with 2,729 and Randy Hillier at 1,014. Hillier will now be removed from the ballot and his votes redistributed based on his supporters’ second choice.

I really did think that Christine Elliott would be in second place at this point, but I congratulate Frank Klees on such a strong first ballot showing. This will surely go to three rounds since none can win on the second ballot with even 100 per cent of Hillier’s vote. The second round will decide who will make it to the third and final ballot.

I believe Hudak will benefit the most from Hiller being dropped. Look for him to pick up about 700 former Hillier votes, moving him to the final round in a strong position to carry the day. Christine Elliott will benefit least from Hiller’s votes-about 100 votes or less. That leaves about 200 votes to go to Frank Klees.

The real question now looks to be: who will survive the second round?

Said Randy: “there’s no other room that I’d rather be in right now – standing beside Tim Hudak.”

The unification of the party starts now.

Hudak, 41, finished with 3,511 of 10,348 electoral votes cast from 107 ridings and maverick MPP Randy Hillier, 51, (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington), who was fourth, has been eliminated from the next ballot, which will be announced around 2 p.m.

Click here for the full story.

107 of 107 ridings:

Hudak: 3511
Klees: 3093
Elliott: 2728
Hillier 1013

Ajax Pickering – Elliott wins
Algoma Manitoulin – Hudak wins
Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale – Hudak wins
Barrie – Hudak wins
Beaches-East York – Klees wins
Bramalea-Gore-Malton – Klees wins
Brampton Springdale – Klees wins
Brampton West – Klees wins
Brant – Hudak wins
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound – Elliott wins
Burlington – Hudak wins
Cambridge – Klees wins
Carleton-Missippi Mills – Hillier wins
Chatham Kent Essex – Hudak wins
Davenport – 3-way tie (Hudak, Elliott, Klees)
Don Valley East – Klees wins
Don Valley West – Hudak wins
Dufferin-Caledon – Elliott wins
Durham – Elliott wins
Eglington Lawrence – Elliott wins
Elgin Middlesex London – Klees wins
Essex – Elliott wins
Etobicoke Centre – Klees wins
Etobicoke Lakeshore – Klees wins
Etobicoke North – Hudak wins
Glengarry-Prescott-Russell – Hillier wins
Guelph – Hudak wins
Haldimand-Norfolk – Hudak wins
Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock – Hudak wins
Halton – Hudak wins
Hamilton Centre – Hudak wins
Hamilton East-Stoney Creek – Hudak wins
Hamilton Mountain – Hudak wins
Huron Bruce – Klees wins
Kenora-Rainy River – Hudak wins
Kingston and the Islands – Elliott wins
Kitchener Centre – Klees wins
Kitchener Conestoga – Klees wins
Kitchener Waterloo – Elliott wins
Lambton Kent Middlesex – Klees wins
Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington – Hillier win
Leeds-Grenville – Hudak wins
London-Fanshawe – Hudak wins
London North Centre – Hudak wins
London West – Hudak wins
Markham-Unionville – Klees wins
Mississauga-Brampton South – Klees wins
Mississauga East Cooksville – Klees wins
Mississauga Erindale – Klees wins
Mississauga South – Klees wins
Mississauga Streetsville – Hudak wins
Nepean Carleton – Hudak wins
Newmarket Aurora – Klees wins
Niagara Falls – Hudak wins
Niagara West Glanbrook – Hudak wins
Nickel Belt – Klees wins
Nipissing – Hudak wins
Northumberland-Quinte West – Elliott wins
Oak Ridges-Markham – Klees wins
Oakville – Elliott wins
Oshawa – Elliott wins
Ottawa Centre – Hudak wins
Ottawa-Orleans – Hudak wins
Ottawa South – Hudak wins
Ottawa Vanier – Elliott wins
Ottawa West Nepean – Hudak wins
Oxford – Hudak wins
Parkdale-High Park – Klees wins
Parry Sound-Muskoka – Hudak wins
Perth-Wellington – Hudak wins
Peterborough – Elliott wins
Pickering-Scarborough East – Elliott wins
Prince Edward-Hastings – Hudak wins
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke – Hudak wins
Richmond Hill – Klees wins
St Catharines – Hudak wins
St Paul’s – Elliott wins
Sarnia-Lambton – Hudak wins
Sault Ste Marie – Elliott wins
Scarborough-Agincourt – Hudak wins
Scarborough Centre – Klees wins
Scarborough Guildwood – Klees wins
Scarborough Rouge River – Klees wins
Scarborough Southwest – Klees wins
Simcoe-Grey – Hudak wins
Simcoe-North – Hudak wins
Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry – Elliott wins
Sudbury – Klees wins
Thornhill – Klees wins
Thunder Bay-Atikokan – Klees wins
Thunder Bay-Superior North – Hudak wins
Timiskaming-Cochrane – Hudak wins
Timmins-James Bay – Hudak wins
Toronto Centre – Elliott wins
Toronto Danforth – Elliott wins
Trinity Spadina – Hudak wins
Vaughan – Hudak wins
Welland – Hudak wins
Wellington-Halton Hills – Elliott wins
Whitby-Oshawa – Elliott wins
Willowdale – Klees wins
Windsor-Tecumseh – Hudak wins
Windsor West – Elliott wins
York Centre – Klees wins
York Simcoe – Klees wins
York South Weston – Elliott wins
York West – Elliott wins

A good part of politics happens to be timing,” Hudak said during a phone interview, reflecting on his 80-day campaign to become leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party.

The 41-year-old politician has spent most of his adult life in public office. He was first elected in 1995 at the age of 27. Now, he’s the front-runner in the four-person race to replace John Tory, who resigned as party leader in March after failing to win a byelection in Lindsay. Tory ran there because he lost his own downtown Toronto seat in the 2007 general election.

A leadership campaign is a chance to put out where you, as a candidate, want to take the party and to run on your record as an MPP,” Hudak said.

It’s not something you would expect from the man Mike Harris has named his heir — a Common Sense revolutionary whose devotion to the party’s neoconservative beliefs has earned him the keys to the former premier’s kingdom.

He’s backed by prominent Tories from that era, including John Baird and Tony Clement, who now sit at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet table. He’s even married to Harris’s former chief of staff, Deb Hutton, with whom he has a 20-month-old daughter, Miller.

But the Niagara West-Glanbrook MPP’s true Blue Tory roots don’t run quite as deep as you’d think.

“My grandfather, by the way, was a strong CCF and NDP activist,” he says.

“My mom says when she was growing up, there was always an NDP sign on her lawn.”

Click here to read the full story.

After two ignominious defeats in six years to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals, the Conservatives hope their right-wing saviour – and all four candidates are right of the centrist Tory on the political spectrum – will lead them to victory in 2011.

Click here to read the full story.

I’m really looking forward to attending the convention. Tonight, the convention kicks off with a tribute reception for John Tory.

I was pretty harsh towards him after the last election and had even blogged about John Tory being called into Donald Trump’s boardroom.

However, I also remember that Tory did other things for the party, such as bringing it out of a massive $4.5M hole, so I expect we’ll all be getting a reminder of what a force he has been in the party over and above his public pursuits. I am looking forward to learning about it.

When the leadership race started I had hoped the race would focus on the bigger philosophical issues (red tory vs. blue tory) and I am glad it turned out that way.

When I first watched Hillier’s and Hudak’s launch events, I knew right away (pun intended) that I would be watching it carefully.

And a Hat Tip to all the bloggers and the campaign social media chairs. Well done. I’m sure you’re all suffering from sleep depravation and caffeine overdose. At least starting tomorrow you can substitute caffeine for BEvERages. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can tomorrow and Saturday.