There is no clear front-runner in the federal Liberal leadership race, according to poll results released Tuesday night.

Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae are essentially tied, with Stephane Dion a close third, according to Strategic Counsel, the firm that conducted the poll for CTV and The Globe and Mail. The other six remaining candidates have some catching up to do.

"This is where things start to get interesting," Tim Woolstencroft, managing partner of The Strategic Counsel told CTV.ca on Tuesday.

"Now we have some empirical data to get a sense of what's happening."

For most of the race, the perceived front-runner has been Ignatieff, a renowned academic who has spent most of his career outside Canada. Woolstencroft said Rae -- a one-time NDP premier of Ontario -- ran a good campaign over the summer.

Robert Fife, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief, say Liberal sources tell him about one-third of delegates have been selected for the convention, and that Ignatieff holds a slight lead over Rae, with former Ontario provincial cabinet minister Gerard Kennedy in third and former federal cabinet minister Stephane Dion in fourth.

Fife cautioned that Quebec delegates aren't included. Ignatieff, Rae and Dion are expected to do well there.

The Liberal party meets between Nov. 29 and Dec. 3 to pick their new leader. They have a final debate on Oct. 15.

When they choose their new leader, much will depend on what the ballot question will be, Woolstencroft said.

For example, is it 'Who can best lead the party in a federal election?,' or 'Who can best challenge Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper?' Right now, however, there's little distinction between the top candidates on those two questions.

Poll results for the first question:

• Ignatieff - 20 per cent
• Rae - 15 per cent
• Dion - 9 per cent

Ken Dryden, the famous goaltender-turned-politician, and Gerard Kennedy, a former provincial Liberal cabinet, clock in at six per cent.

Scott Brison, a one-time Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful; Martha Hall Findlay, a Toronto lawyer, and former cabinet ministers Joe Volpe and Hedy Fry all have one per cent support or less for this question.

However, about 40 per cent were undecided, didn't know or refused to answer. In another poll on the general public, there was also a high proportion of undecideds.

In terms of taking on Harper, Ignatieff and Rae are virtually tied (18 per cent vs. 17 per cent), with Dion at 11 per cent.

The two are similarly close on the question of who would make the best prime minister (16 per cent for Ignatieff vs. 15 per cent for Rae).

Here is how support would break out if  Liberals voted today (the margin of error is three per cent):

• Ignatieff - 19 per cent
• Rae - 17 per cent
• Dion - 13 per cent
• Dryden, Kennedy - tied at 9 per cent

Brison, Volpe, Hall Findlay and Fry are at three per cent support or less.  Twenty-seven per cent are undecided or wouldn't respond.

Conventions aren't usually won on the first ballot. Here are respondents' second choices:

• Rae - 23 per cent
• Dion - 17 per cent
• Ignatieff - 12 per cent
• Dryden - 10 per cent

And their third choice:

• Dion - 14 per cent
• Ignatieff - 13 per cent
• Rae - 12 per cent
• Dryden - 10 per cent

When asked who members didn't want as their next leader, here are the rankings:

• Ignatieff - 12 per cent
• Rae - 9 per cent
• Hedy Fry - 8 cent
• Joe Volpe - 6 per cent

Woolstencroft said he believes the race will get even tighter one the delegate selection meetings take place over the next 10 days.

"What's going to be very important is which candidates drop off and how those candidates' supporters break," he told Canada AM on Wednesday.

In other questions, Ignatieff, Rae and Dion share top billing for having introduced the most exciting and innovative ideas.

Twenty per cent of respondents see Ignatieff as the most intelligent, versus 11 per cent for Rae and 10 per cent for Dion.

Those top three are tied when respondents are asked who most closely represents their own views.

They are statistically tied on the issue of who is the most honest and ethical.

In terms of personality, Rae has 18 per cent support, compared to 11 per cent for Ignatieff. Kennedy is third with nine per cent and Dion fourth with eight per cent.

Rae has an edge in terms of communications. Twenty-two per cent see him as the best communicator, compared to 15 per cent for Ignatieff. No one else has double-digit support.

Ignatieff is seen as having an advantage with the media. Twenty-three per cent give him top grades, compared to 12 per cent for Rae. No one else has double-digit support in this category.

Liberal members may see the stakes as high -- 81 per cent think their party will win the next federal election.

"In the spring, I don't think that would have been 50 per cent," Woolstencroft said.

The general public

Asked who they see as good choices for Liberal leader, respondents from the general public ranked the candidates as follows (percentage-point change from an April 6-9 poll in brackets):

• Ignatieff - 35 per cent (+7)
• Rae - 33 per cent (+5)
• Dryden - 30 per cent (+8)
• Dion - 24 per cent (no change)
• Kennedy - 24 per cent (-1) 
• Brison - 21 per cent (n/a)

Here's who the public would support at the Liberal convention:

• Dryden - 18 per cent
• Rae - 14 per cent
• Ignatieff - 7 per cent
• Dion - 6 per cent

In another question, Dryden topped all candidates when it came to name recognition amongst the public.

Here are the top second choices for the public:

• Rae - 16 per cent
• Dryden - 14 per cent
• Ignatieff - 12 per cent
• Dion - 8 per cent

The six candidates trailing behind the frontrunners have some thinking to do about what they can do better -- or if they want to stay in, Woolstencroft said.

Two candidates -- Carolyn Bennett and Maurizio Bevilacqua -- have already dropped out and thrown their support to Rae.

"We've done an analysis of the various camps, and in every one, Rae is the prime beneficiary ... he's taking (support) from all of them," Woolstencroft said.

While Bevilacqua and Bennett are relatively minor players, he argued it's the cumulative affect of such actions that may allow Rae to build a winning coalition.

The race hasn't been seen as exciting so far, "but starting now, with the release of this poll, this race will get quite exciting," Woolstencroft said.

"Until now, no one has known what to get excited about."

Party support

In a separate poll, The Strategic Counsel measured support for the main parties (percentage point change from July 27 in brackets):

• Conservatives - 35 per cent (-3)
• Liberals - 26 per cent (-3)
• NDP - 19 per cent (+4)
• Bloc Quebecois - 12 per cent (+1)
• Greens - 8 per cent (+1)

Technical notes

Interviews for the Liberal Party poll were conducted beween Sept. 12 and 18 (a leadership debate took place in Vancouver on Sept. 17). The poll of the public took place between Sept. 14 and 17, as did sampling for the party support question.

In each poll, 1,000 people were polled. The Liberal party poll had an oversample in British Columbia.

The margin of error is 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.