Sheila Copps, the only competitor to Paul Martin for the Liberal leadership knows she's out of the race. But she's determined not to give up until she crosses the finish line.

"A political campaign is like a marathon -- just because you're not coming in first doesn't mean you should drop out," she told Canada AM Friday.

Copps is all but guaranteed to lose today's leadership vote at the party convention in Toronto. Copps won only 15 per cent of party delegates, who will be greatly outnumbered by Martin supporters. But she points out that there are still thousands who support her over Martin.

"I still got 1 in 6 Liberal votes in a race that was said to be preordained many months in advance," she noted.

"I told my supporters -- 32,000 of whom joined the Liberal party because they believed in my message -- that I was going to be there from the first day until the end. I'm a person of my word and I think that's important in politics."

Copps will offer the convention her concession speech Friday morning, in which she'll expected to ask Liberals to unite behind Martin. CTV's Mike Duffy says the word is that Copps is going to urge Liberals to stay to the left, to follow the path set by Paul Martin Sr., a social Liberal.

Copps herself remained coy on the content of her address.

"My speech will be about my vision, the reason I'm here in this race, and why I stayed in the end," she said.

"At the beginning of this race, I said I had things to say that I thought were important for the party and important for the country. And hopefully this morning, I'll have the chance to lay that vision forward."

Whether that vision will be shared by Martin and will be rewarded with a cabinet post has yet to be seen. But the heritage minister says she hasn't asked Martin what he sees for her political future.

"I haven't discussed that with Paul and I don't think that at this point it would be appropriate. I think it's the prime minister's decision to make the calls he sees fit, and I think that's the way it should be."

Even if the tough-talking MP from Hamilton, Ont. is relegated to the back benches, she says she won't be looking for a career change.

"I fully intend to stay in politics. I'm fighting for the next election right now. I'm selling memberships.

"And I intend to be a part of a Liberal government and I intend to work so that we win the next election."