Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac pledges to run for Liberal leadership

Cape Breton's outlandish fiddler Ashley MacIsaac has expressed an interest in leading the federal Liberal Party.

This week, MacIsaac, 31,insisted to various media outlets that he has been a lifelong Liberal and that his bid for the federal leadership is not another stunt.

"I know that I've courted a lot of press in the past for situations in my entertainment life," he said in an interview.

"I have for many years relied upon the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll image to sell tickets. That's not what I plan on doing to sell my particular platform of what I think the Liberals need to do to move forward."

The bad-boy musician, who shot to fame with his 1995 album Hi, How Are You Today? and the hit song Sleepy Maggie, has developed a reputation for eccentric behaviour over the years.

In 1997, a kilt-clad MacIsaac ended a performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with a kick revealing his lack of underwear.

More recently, MacIsaac has claimed he was planning to have a gay wedding in Alberta (no wedding was reported) and that he would run as an independent candidate for the federal government in Dartmouth, N.S. (he later withdrew his plans).

MacIsaac told the Canadian Press that his platform will include aboriginal and youth issues and strengthening ties with Quebec. He has also said that he will sell artwork he ownsto finance his leadership bid.

While Liberal party officials declined comment on the fiddler's bid, Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald supported the idea as "quite interesting."

"We'll have to see if he goes for it," MacDonald told CP.