"Young, bilingual and has good social credibility."

Debate recap:

"Kennedy, 45, and the freshest federal face, has been an impressive cabinet minister in McGuinty's Ontario government. He has also lived in Manitoba and Alberta. At 22, he established Canada's first-ever food bank, in Edmonton. During the debate he proved the most intense and aggressive debater."

- Vancouver Sun, Barbara Yaffe

"Ten years ago, the Manitoba-born and educated former food bank director was favoured to take over the leadership of the Ontario Liberals. But some guy named Dalton McGuinty surprised Kennedy on the final ballot. A decade later, Kennedy, 45, is again in the leadership game after resigning his cabinet post as McGuinty's education minister.

Kennedy would seem to come straight out of central casting for Liberal leaders. He's young, bilingual and has good social credibility. He is also working contacts within education circles to maximum benefit."

- Winnipeg Free Press, Paul Samyn

"Sparks were flying in Winnipeg at Saturday's first all-candidates meeting for the federal Liberal leadership. Michael Ignatieff was targeted by a number of other contenders on such issues as the Kyoto Accord and his support for prolonging Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Joe Volpe accused Ignatieff of being too close to a Conservative point of view. Meanwhile, former Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy focused on outlining his plan to build a Liberal party from the ground up - by putting social justice and economic prosperity on the same level."

- Jason McIntyre, CFRA

"Obviously I'm somewhat biased, but I think Kennedy did himself a lot of favours with his performance. He was probably the best speaker of the evening and showed a lot more passion and fire than I've seen from him before. You can only do so much with the format and Gerard managed to explain why he's running and what problems face the country. He also came across looking Prime Ministerial when Volpe and Bevilacqua teamed up on him in the break out debate."

- Calgary Grit