'Trudeaumania' heir could become Canada's next leader

TORONTO -- The son of a man who brought glamor and excitement to Canadian politics in the late 1960s is favored to become Canada's next prime minister.

Justin Trudeau, the son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, is leading in the polls ahead of today's election that could spell the end of a decade of Conservative rule under Stephen Harper.

Trudeau, tall and trim at 43, channels the star power -- if not quite the political heft -- of his father, who swept to power in 1968 on a wave of support dubbed "Trudeaumania."

Pierre Trudeau, who was prime minister until 1984 with a short interruption, remains one of the few Canadian politicians known in America, his charisma often drawing comparisons to John F. Kennedy.

At age 51, while in office, he married 22-year-old Margaret Sinclair, who earned notoriety as first lady for partying with the Rolling Stones and at New York's Studio 54. They had three sons, including Justin, the eldest. The couple divorced when Justin was 6, and the boys were raised by their father, who died in 2000.

If he wins, Justin Trudeau, who has three young children with former model and television host Sophie Gregoire, would become the second-youngest prime minister in Canada's history, despite a thin resume.

A former teacher who sported long hair until recently, Trudeau has been an opposition member of Parliament since 2008.

Antonia Maioni, a political science professor at Montreal's McGill University, said the room changes when Trudeau enters.

"It's like a celebrity thing. Bill Clinton had that. Not many people or politicians can do that. Mr. Trudeau can do that. That's why now you hear the Conservatives say it's not a popularity contest," Maioni said. "Mr. Trudeau can raise that kind of excitement in a room, but let's be frank: He does not have a lot of political experience."

The Conservatives have blitzed the country with TV ads targeting Trudeau, saying "He's just not ready."

But Trudeau is tapping into an appetite for change with promises to cut taxes for the middle class and increase them for the wealthy. He plans to spend billions on infrastructure, running deficits for three years to do so. And he has pledged to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year.