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Barack Obama speaks at turtle speed. In various one-minute chunks of his now famous "Yes we can" New Hampshire speech, given after losing the primary to Hillary Clinton, Mr. Obama speaks as few as 110 words a minute.

The remarkable ability of the Illinois senator to move people with his words is becoming a campaign issue in itself, with his opponents, particularly Ms. Clinton, criticizing his penchant for pretty words and not much else.

North of the border, the story is much different. Our leaders speak with facility but not much passion. They often speak at breakneck speed.

As election fever builds here, more focus will be put on the ability of our leaders to lift words off pages.

So how can Stephen Harper, Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton get a bit of the Obama magic? In part, speechwriters say, they could pay attention to his ability to speak slowly.

Almost always formally dressed in a shirt and tie, his hair cut short and neat as if he were running for office in the 1960s, the 46-year-old senator speaks formally as well. He is a bit of a throwback in this MTV/short-attention-span era, as he chooses his words carefully and deliberately, allowing his audience to savour every syllable, conjunction, vowel and pause.

Speechwriters say the average speaking speed for politicians making public presentations is between 120 and 125 words a minute. This compares with between 170 and 180 words a minute in regular conversation.

They will tell you, too, that they advise their clients to slow down, way down, and deliver their speech at between 110 and 120 words a minute.

"To be below 100 is rather quite dramatic," says Dan McGroarty, a speechwriter for former U.S. president George H. W. Bush and now a public policy consultant. "... And to be above 125, 130 is breakneck."

At that speed, Mr. McGroarty says, you lose people - or worse, you could create questions in the minds of listeners "as if to say you don't want us to listen closely."

By way of example, Mr. McGroarty refers to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's famous Pearl Harbor address: "Yesterday, Dec. 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

Mr. Roosevelt delivered that speech at about 100 words a minute.

"It is not a beautifully written speech," Mr. McGroarty says. "It is very direct and blunt, but it is delivered at this very, very deliberate pace."

He says the slow pace lends "gravitas to the message almost regardless to what the message is."

It can also confer legitimacy, says Canadian speechwriter and policy analyst Geoff Poapst.

"That's probably its greatest advantage," Mr. Poapst says. "I think that it would generally hold true that the great speakers of the world speak at probably around 110 and 115 words a minute, and your average person is probably speaking around 145."

In a speech yesterday on Canada's role in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper read parts of his text at 154 words a minute.

NDP leader Jack Layton addressed a nomination meeting in Edmonton last year, speaking at times at 146 words a minute.

Liberal leader Stéphane Dion is more difficult to judge, as he speaks very slowly in English because it is not his native tongue.

"There is nobody in Canada who speaks like Obama," says Scott Reid, a speechwriter and former communications strategist to Paul Martin. "And there hasn't been since Tommy Douglas." Except maybe Stephen Lewis, he added.

He says that Mr. Obama is able to speak slowly because he speaks lyrically, unlike Mr. Dion, whose speeches he describes as "Cartesian," logical and heavy on narrative.

Mr. Harper, Mr. Reid says, is heavier on narrative and lighter on inspiration and hope.

"But his style, in my observation, places a greater emphasis on trying to speak plainly," he says.

Peter Donolo's observation is that Mr. Harper and Mr. Dion speak without emotion. The former Jean Chrétien strategist, now a national pollster with The Strategic Counsel, says neither connect with their audiences.

"Both come across as very competent but a bit cold," he says.

But in addition to speaking slowly and with cadence and rhythm, Mr. Donolo emphasizes the power of the pause. A well-timed pause can focus the listener's interest and attention as they lean in, wanting more.

British speechwriting consultant Max Atkinson agrees, noting that some speakers may talk slowly because they pause often. He says some research suggests speakers pause on average every seven words; highly educated audiences can handle pauses every nine words.

Winston Churchill, he says, paused six times, or on average every 5.66 words, in a short sequence of one of his famous wartime speeches.

That rate of delivery "tends to reinforce the message," says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication.

"There isn't a set rule," she says. "More rapid speech creates a sense of urgency. Visionary rhetoric tends to be delivered thoughtfully ... slowly."

In Canada, there is a sense of urgency; in the United States, there is vision.

Speech speedometer

Martin Luther King

Aug. 28, 1963, "I have a dream" speech, 90 words a minute

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Dec. 8, 1941, Pearl Harbor Address, 100 words a minute

John F. Kennedy

June 11, 1963, Civil Rights Address, 104 words a minute

Barack Obama

Jan. 8, 2008, New Hampshire, primary concession speech, 110 words a minute

George W. Bush

Sept. 11, 2001, address after the terrorist attacks, 110 words a minute

Winston Churchill

June 4, 1940, "We shall fight on the beaches" speech, 116 words a minute

Bill Clinton

Dec. 11, 1998, "I am profoundly sorry" address before his impeachment, 116 words a minute

Hillary Clinton

Jan. 23, 2008, speaking to delegates in Arizona before Super Tuesday primaries, 129 words a minute

Margaret Thatcher

April 14, 1982, address to the British House of Commons on the Falklands War, 133 words a minute

Stephen Harper

Feb. 21, 2008, Afghanistan address, 154 words a minute

-Jane Taber

Soundbites

BARACK OBAMA

Jan. 8, Nashua, N.H.

Words a minute: 100

30-second excerpt: "A few weeks ago, no one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we were far behind, and we always knew our climb would be steep. But in record numbers, you came out and spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes ..."

HILLARY CLINTON

Jan. 22, Laveen, Ariz.

Words a minute: 188

30-second excerpt: "We've got to deal with health care, don't we? I mean, it's morally the right thing to do. Nobody in a country as rich as ours should go without health care. What is wrong? We are better than that. But you know what, it's also smart economically because we already spend more money than anybody else in the world, and we don't always get the best results. We have 47 million uninsured people, and a lot of people who have insurance - except when they really need it, the insurance company won't pay for them."

MARTIN LUTHER KING

Aug. 28, 1963, Washington, D.C.

Words a minute: 90

30-second excerpt: "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation."

STEPHEN HARPER

Yesterday, Ottawa news conference

Words a minute: 154

30-second excerpt: "If Canada wants to contribute to global security, we will have to participate in UN peace enforcement missions - not just traditional peacekeeping - as well as intelligence sharing, aid and development, and so on. And that means we will need a strong, modern, multifaceted military, backed by the political will to deploy. My party has been proud and consistent in support of the Afghanistan mission since the Liberal government first decided to send combat troops to that country."