Today, the President of the Alberta Liberal Party received a letter from Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, informing him of Mr. Taft's intention to step down as Leader between now and January of 2009.Electoral results aside, Kevin has been a respected ambassador for the party as leader, and he will continue to be as MLA. He deserves thanks and praise for what he's accomplished organizationally to attempt to recover the party from the state in which he found it.I think Kevin is making the right decision, here. Right for him, and right for the party. However, it's almost unfortunate that there will be a leadership race, now, because that will distract the members from the conversation that they are having (or avoiding, as the case may be) with regards to more fundamental problems.Hopefully the leadership race will focus on how the leaders plan to reform the party into one that can win. Given my past experiences in leadership races, I'm not holding my breath. The decision on leader (barring some remarkable candidates) will be made largely by existing members, people who do not reflect the wide spectrum of Albertans. Their decision on leader will therefore be unlikely to appeal to Albertan voters generally. And regardless of who wins, the ALP will end up where they are now.Which is why, unless the ALP can figure out how to make its membership reflect Alberta's political centre, people who want to move the government of this province left need to Start from Scratch.