It was supposed to be Paul Martin's supporters who wouldn't let it go. Who refused to relinquish control of the Liberal party until it was pried from their cold dead hands. Who tried desperately to relive past glories because they couldn't quite figure out what to do with themselves now. Who insisted on dragging the party back into the past, rather than let it move forward into the future. Who were expected to find some stalking horse, and then give him the dubious pleasure of doing for him what they did for Paul Martin.

And yet, less than four months before Liberals gather in Montreal to choose their new leader, the senior Martinites are nowhere to be found - at least collectively. A few have scattered to various candidates; most seem to have stayed out of the race entirely. This may not be by choice; after leading the Liberals into the ground, they're not facing bidding wars for their services. But say this much for them: For once, they can lay legitimate claim to the high road over Jean Chretien's crowd.

It's easy to forget, since the Martinites were so ruthless in cleansing the Liberals of all things Chretien, that the Little Guy did not go willingly. One might have hoped that, in the three years since his unceremonious departure, his inner circle might have gotten over that. This would have been the time to be philosophical - to accept that they had a nice decade-long run of it, and that now it was someone else's turn to run the country.

Instead, they've coalesced around Bob Rae - a candidate they're drawn to not so much for ideological reasons, but because of family relations.

It's hard to blame John Rae, the executive vice-president of Power Corp., for being drawn back in. If your brother was running for the leadership of the Liberal party, and you happened to have run some of the most successful campaigns in Liberal party history, you'd probably have a hard time saying no as well. But that doesn't really explain why so many of his friends came along for the ride.

On a list of each leadership aspirant's "top supporters and campaign workers" recently published by The Hill Times, eight of the 10 listed for Bob Rae are known primarily for their Chretien connections. (The two exceptions were Ontario MPPs Greg Sorbara and George Smitherman, the latter of whom was strongly in Chretien's camp during his battles with Martin.) Other than John Rae, the most prominent name belongs to Eddie Goldenberg - a man who, until now, devoted almost his entire professional career to the service of Chretien. Alongside him on the list are various other former staffers and two of the staunchest Chretienites in the Senate, Mac Harb and Jim Munson (the latter of whom served as Chretien's communications director during his final term).

Earlier this week, another prominent former Chretienite was added to the list when he himself dropped out of the race. Maurizio Bevilacqua was not always in that camp, having once been a staunch Martinite before changing allegiances. But his ties to the group are the only plausible explanation for a right-of-centre, pro-business Liberal throwing his support to a former NDP premier.

However much all those supporters are doing for Rae, it's probably not as much as the Desmarais family - the Power Corp. titans with extremely close ties to Chretien - who have apparently helped give the former NDP premier a bigger war chest than any of his competitors. That this group includes the former PM's daughter, France Chretien Desmarais, is the strongest indication that, as rumoured, Chretien himself is pulling strings behind the scenes.

If so, he's doing nobody any favours - including himself. It's one thing for former leaders to remain in public life once their time is up - witness Bill Clinton south of the border or, ironically, Bob Rae prior to his return to politics. But trying to send a proxy to take your place, especially belatedly, is decidedly unstatesmanlike.

More importantly, it's the last thing that the Liberals need as they try to rebuild and redefine themselves. The Martinites may bear the brunt of the blame for the party's collapse, but it was a combined effort. It was Chretien, after all, who was in office for Adscam. And it was his arrogant and disconnected leadership of the party that opened the door for Martin to stage his coup.

If there is a saving grace here, it's that Rae is too smart and independent-minded to become an outright pawn. But if he wins, all that Chretienite support will still translate into considerable influence.

That alone makes Rae an unattractive candidate for a party that needs to move on - even if its former leader can't.