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They're calling him Iggy.

As in: "Was in a meeting and left the Berry in my office, but would love to chat with you any time about Iggy."

That's Dr. Michael Ignatieff to you, one of the latest contenders for the leadership of the Liberal Party, and the choice of the stylish elites.

The e-mail is from Lorna Counsell, a 31-year-old Ottawa lawyer who is part of a growing team of campaign organizers working on Ignatieff's behalf. Like many supporters of the associate critic for Human Resources and Skills Development (Ignatieff's official title in the shadow cabinet), Counsell is young, media-savvy and breathlessly articulate about the man she believes will save the country.

"It's his mind," she says during a phone interview en route to New York. "If you speak to him for less than five minutes, you know right away that he has a depth to his character that we haven't seen in politics for a long time in Canada."

True, political organizers are always going on about the wondrous qualities of the candidates they champion, but with Ignatieff's supporters, there is the slobbering devotion of the kind that only the truly charismatic can command.

And no one is arguing with his personal appeal. The professor whom the British press dubbed "the thinking woman's crumpet" is nowhere near past his sell-by date. Excellent communication skills, glistening international credentials and an earnest intellectual idealism -- along with what one organizer described, sighing, as "those smokin' blue eyes" -- have combined to make him easily the most stylish Canadian Liberal to come along since Pierre Trudeau.

But his followers are not just a bunch of lovestruck wonkettes. Far from it. They include members of the country's urban, intellectual, media and business elite, such as Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz (who are reported to have attended a dinner with other Ignatieff supporters) and former Ontario premier David Peterson. It's clear that Ignatieff's supporters are some of the country's most influential movers and tastemakers.

"He's attracting young, sophisticated people with a broader world view," says Alfred Apps, a senior campaign organizer and a lawyer at Fasken Martineau. He points out that the campaign has a young professionals group. I resist the urge to ask if this means that Ignatieff is the yuppie favourite -- because I know the answer. He is.

It's not just all those fancy letters after his name. The guy's got sex appeal. "He'll certainly capture 52 per cent of the vote from the women alone," says Bruce Bailey, a New York-based Canadian investment banker and arts patron. A self-described red Tory, Bailey says he would switch allegiances and support Ignatieff for prime minister should he secure the leadership.

"I've met him a few times in London and he was very charming, but much more than a pretty face. He's a cultural icon and a pin-up poster boy, and he also appeals to a broad spectrum of people. He's got that Edmund Burke-champion-of-individual-liberties thing going on."

Which is great if you know who Edmund Burke is. It's safe to say that most Canadian voters do not. This, some observers say, will be Ignatieff's biggest challenge. Can a man who was once short-listed for the Booker Prize (his 1993 novel Scar Tissue) withstand the tedium of the rubber-chicken circuit?

"The big question is, how does Ignatieff transform a whole lot of goodwill in [the affluent Toronto neighbourhood] the Annex into a national campaign that reaches to Red Deer?" says Rudyard Griffiths, director of the non-partisan Dominion Group, a think-tank promoting Canadian cultural awareness. "The fact is there are a whole lot more Tim Hortons franchises in Canada than there are Starbucks. Ignatieff's campaign slogan should be 'Roll up the rim to win.' "

Indeed, some Liberal insiders are saying that the Ignatieff camp is trying to play down both his erudite side and his youthful, cosmopolitan supporters (read: gays and university students). If so, it's news to his Toronto-based campaign director, Ian Davey. "Our people are young," he says, laughing. "At 47, I'm the oldest person by far."

The son of a Liberal senator, Davey knows the world of politics well. Maybe too well. He eschewed that life and became a film and TV producer instead. Until meeting Ignatieff, Davey says, he didn't feel the need to get seriously involved in politics.

"It's easy to be in political life and throw around the obvious lines and say the obvious things. But to speak out to people and say something significant is a tough thing to do. The truth is, Michael Ignatieff is in touch with this country and what it means to be Canadian."

Far from trying to play down Ignatieff's political inexperience, Davey revels in it -- and he believes Canadians will too.

"He's not a politician, which is refreshing. He comes from the world of education, arts and culture. He understands policy, but he also understands how to make a living in the arts. He can get people back into public policy that right now simply aren't interested."

But will Liberals across the country be willing to abandon their crullers in favour of a crumpet? For the sake of all the thinking women and stylish gay men in Toronto, let's hope so.

lmclaren@globeandmail.com

Join Leah McLaren in an on-line chat this Monday, April 10, at noon. Visit globeandmail.com.