and two provincial premiers, with Louis Robichaud of New Brunswick joining Smallwood. Trudeau's charisma and attention-grabbing behaviour earned him far more media coverage than any other candidate. A Université Laval study found that from January 1 to March 20, Trudeau had received 26% percent of the media coverage devoted to the nine candidates running. Finance Minister Mitchell Sharp was a distant second, with only 16%. Trudeau also received attention outside Canada, being profiled in both the British and American media. By the end of the campaign, Trudeau was unquestionably the most popular figure among the Canadian public. A public opinion poll gave Trudeau 32% support, Martin 14% and Winters 10%, with the other candidates in single digits. Many within the Liberal Party still had deep doubts about him, however. He was a recent convert, having joined the party only in 1965, and was still considered an outsider. Some saw him as too radical and outspoken a figure and bitterly opposed his views on divorce, abortion and homosexuality. A number of minor scandals also broke out, including one where articles written by Trudeau that were deeply critical of Pearson, especially of the decision to accept nuclear weapons in Canada, were republished. Trudeau was also forced to explain why he had been blacklisted by the United States in the 1950s. His campaign was not run by professional political consultants, instead being directed by a group of young, extremely well educated amateurs such as Gordon Gibson and Jim Davey. The team impressed many, but it also made a number of errors. Other candidates The race was by no means a sure thing for Trudeau, and a number of potent candidates remained in the contest. Finance Minister Mitchell Sharp was one of the highest-profile cabinet ministers and represented the same liberal wing of the party as Trudeau. His campaign was badly hurt, however, when on February 19 the government was unexpectedly defeated on a tax bill, almost forcing a snap election. Pearson was out of the country, and as senior minister and finance minister getting the bill passed was Sharp's responsibility. After this debacle Sharp was prevented from campaigning through much of March by having to deal with a collapse in the world gold market. Though he campaigned intensively in the last few days, internal polling found that Sharp had fewer than 150 delegates and was unlikely to even be able to play kingmaker.