The political guru who helped Premier Kathleen Wynne win the Liberal leadership is being courted to run John Tory’s fledgling campaign to unseat Mayor Rob Ford, the Star has learned.

Tom Allison, Wynne’s deputy chief of staff and the strategic whiz who ensured her stunning party victory last January, is one of a handful of political pros in the running to helm mayoral bid of the former Progressive Conservative leader.

“Nothing has been confirmed, because John is not 100 per cent in yet,” stressed a Tory backer Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to freely discuss campaign deliberations.

“Until he says ‘yes,’ we can’t really make any specific moves. But Tom would be a perfect fit. He’s campaign-hardened and very capable.”

Allison, who declined comment on Friday, was the manager of Wynne’s campaign to succeed former premier Dalton McGuinty as Liberal leader last January.

She made history as Ontario’s first female premier with a dramatic third-ballot win at Maple Leaf Gardens over front-runner Sandra Pupatello.

With a provincial election is widely expected this spring, Wynne’s Liberal election campaign is being run by David Herle and Pat Sorbara, freeing up Allison to take over a municipal bid.

Another Tory campaign official, who is close to Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, praised Allison as a well-respected adversary.

“He would really help us,” he said, noting Tory’s budding effort will be a “big tent” relying upon Conservatives, Liberals, and a smattering of New Democrats to win the Oct. 27 election.

While Ford is also a Conservative, most of the party’s major players are abandoning him over the crack cocaine scandal that sparked a Toronto police investigation.

Even some key PC strategists who secured Ford’s improbable 2010 municipal victory are planning to help Tory this year.

Appointing Allison, who worked on runner-up George Smitherman’s campaign in the last civic election, suggests Wynne Liberals and Hudak Tories are rallying behind Tory.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Most New Democrats appear to be for NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina), who is also soon to announce her mayoral plans.

Tory, the chair of CivicAction and a NewsTalk 1010 host, lost to Wynne in Don Valley West in the 2007 provincial election.

Read more about: