Political coronations are never a good idea.

A political coronation for someone who has never been elected to office seems a particularly bad idea.

Brian Topp, in these first days of the NDP leadership race, has shown a mastery of creating perceived momentum, trotting out a party icon here, a caucus colleague there, a couple more over here, to try to cast his campaign in the cloak of inevitability.

But the chatter around Parliament Hill suggesting Topp already has the NDP leadership wrapped up is dangerous talk for an opposition party.

The NDP must find a strong, credible challenger to the party president, largely seen as the pre-ordained choice of the establishment.

Topp must earn the prize under fire — something far more crucial for a would-be leader who has spent his career on the other side of the cameras and tape recorders.

A cakewalk will also cost the party a golden opportunity to debate its vision as a government-in-waiting in front of the country because if there is no race, there will be a paucity of national media coverage.

If Thomas Mulcair bows to the tyranny of the arithmetical gap between Quebec MPs and Quebec party membership in a one-member, one-vote contest, the challenge likely falls to Ottawa MP Paul Dewar.

It is asking much of anyone to enter a race to test a prohibitive favourite, but recent Canadian political history is littered with shooting stars who became party leaders as the pre-ordained choice.

Kim Campbell scared off virtually all prospective challengers in the Progressive Conservative race to replace Brian Mulroney before Jean Charest made a late charge and exposed Campbell’s flaws.

Campbell went on to cost her party official status.

The same can be said of the NDP’s Audrey McLaughlin, who was her party’s early consensus choice despite a challenge from Dave Barrett, and cost New Democrats party status.

Longtime leader-in-waiting Paul Martin started the demise of the Liberals after he rolled to an easy victory; when the leadership was handed to Michael Ignatieff he accelerated the decline.

But there is another reason that the NDP must engage in a vigorous, ideas-driven campaign.

Expectations.

A just-released e-book, Hope is Better than Fear, Paying Jack Layton Forward, is a tribute to the late leader by those active in a variety of fields he had championed.

Taken on the whole, it is a utopian document.

Random House has assembled the likes of former Ontario lieutenant-governor James Bartleman calling for Layton’s memory to be honoured with a focus on the education of aboriginal children.

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NDP MP Pierre-Luc Dusseault, the youngest person every elected to the House of Commons, recalls how Layton inspired him to enter politics in Quebec.

Former Toronto mayor David Miller calls for work to continue on a national transit strategy and musician Steven Page calls for someone to take the baton and run with Layton’s support of the arts.

The book calls for action on child poverty, barriers to women’s advancement, violence against women and proportional representation.

It includes a passionate cry for full equality for gays and lesbians.

In a foreword, the book is described as not a eulogy, not simply a work of remembrance, but a highlight of areas in which Layton was a change-maker “and asks: how do we get on with the job?”

How indeed?

This is where a possible coronation collides with expectation.

An Angus Reid poll released Friday showed the NDP finding marginally more support with Mulcair as leader, but the poll found he and Topp running behind the level of support set by Layton.

Every NDP leadership candidate — declared or soon-to-be declared — will pledge to carry on Layton’s legacy.

Paying Jack Layton Forward reminds them of the expectations he or she will inherit.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday

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