OTTAWA — The political jockeying in the NDP leadership race intensified Monday, as internal polls emerged which suggested Thomas Mulcair has a strong lead and as rival Brian Topp received the endorsement of Jack Layton’s mother.

The developments occurred as the seven candidates prepared to enter the final stretch of the contest that will finish when tens of thousands of New Democrats across the country cast their vote — by mail, online and in person — for a March 24 leadership convention in Toronto.

Since it began in September following Layton’s death the month before, the race has been marked by a series of debates that drew few sparks. The camps have focused on signing up new members to the party, and the one-member, one-vote system has made it difficult to determine who is winning.

On Monday, competing polls emerged from three leadership camps.

According to figures obtained by Postmedia News, Mulcair’s poll has him well in front with 31.1 per cent, followed by Toronto MP Peggy Nash (17.5), former NDP president Topp (14.8), British Columbia MP Nathan Cullen, (14.2), Ottawa MP Paul Dewar (13.8), Manitoba MP Niki Ashton (5.3) and Nova Scotia pharmacist Martin Sigh (0.9).

Mulcair’s pollster contacted 1,105 party members from Feb. 6-8, which means the poll is accurate to plus or minus 2.9 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Raoul Gebert, Mulcair’s campaign director, said the poll shows the same thing as one conducted by the Dewar campaign, which was released Monday to the media.

“I think the numbers we’ve seen today confirm our own numbers,” he said. “Tom is ahead and there’s a four-way race for second spot.”

If Mulcair’s poll is solid, it suggests that the Montreal MP would be difficult to stop at the convention, since he ranks well at second choice as other candidates fall off the ballot, with 21 per cent of the second choice total, enough to put him over the top.

Nash, with 17.5 per cent of first ballot support, does better on second choices, with 25.4 per cent. If those numbers hold, New Democrats would ultimately be faced with a final ballot showdown between those two.

Mulcair’s numbers show Topp is the second choice of 19.7 per cent, and Dewar with 13.7.

Earlier in the day, Dewar’s campaign released an interactive voice response poll it commissioned last week of 6,373 card-carrying New Democrats across the county.

It found that Mulcair is running ahead of the pack — but is far short of the 50 per cent benchmark needed to win the leadership. According to the poll, 25.5 per cent of decided respondents say they would vote for Mulcair on the first ballot. Meanwhile, 16.8 per cent favour Nash. Dewar ranks third at 15.1 per cent.

In the next tier on the first ballot, according to the survey, are Cullen (12.8 per cent) and Topp (12.7 per cent). Ashton received 9.5 per cent, Singh had 4.1 per cent and Quebec MP Romeo Saganash, who has since quit the contest, had 3.6 per cent.

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In recent weeks, Dewar has been widely perceived as a strong contender, but his apparent inability to speak French fluently is seen as a major failing.

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The Feb. 8-9 poll — said to have a margin of error of 1.19 per cent, 19 times out of 20 — was conducted before this weekend’s French debate in Quebec City, where Dewar was not as comfortable speaking French as some of his rivals.

But his leadership team said the poll shows it’s now a three-way race, and they focused on second-choice results — a key factor if the leadership convention goes to multiple ballots. On that question, the second choice went to Dewar (21.2 per cent), followed by Nash (19.4 per cent), Mulcair (16.7 per cent), Cullen (14.4 per cent), Topp (12.4 per cent), Ashton (10.7 per cent), Saganash (3.6 per cent) and Singh (1.8 per cent). Saganash, of course, dropped out of the race last week.

“Paul Dewar is very well-positioned to win,” said Dan Mackenzie, Dewar’s campaign manager.

But Topp’s team immediately disputed Dewar’s poll results. Topp’s campaign manager, Raymond Guardia, sent a memo to campaign staff declaring that the poll’s findings “don’t reflect what’s happening on the ground.”

He said the Topp campaign had conducted live telephone interviews — “not ‘robocalls’ ” — with 7,500 New Democrats, and 28 per cent said they would vote for Topp.

Topp, a former senior strategist and party president, worked with Layton in past campaigns. When he threw his hat into the ring, he received the support of former leader Ed Broadbent and former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow. He was dubbed a front-runner by the media but his debate performances have not stood out.

Guardia insisted that Topp has “strong momentum” because New Democrats like his “optimistic message.”

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As well, the contenders have worked hard to win the endorsements of key luminaries in the party — former leaders and current MPs — to provide credibility to their campaigns and instil momentum.

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On Monday, Topp’s campaign revealed another key supporter: Doris Layton.

"I support Brian Topp because he is very much on Jack’s wavelength,” the campaign’s news release said, quoting the former leader’s mother.

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“Jack and Brian worked closely together through the years. They can almost finish each other’s sentences. I feel secure with Brian’s leadership that the NDP will definitely follow Jack’s path — a path that will lead the NDP to form government in 2015. And Jack’s spirit will live on.”

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“It is a tremendous honour to have Mrs. Layton’s support,” Topp said in a prepared statement.

“Doris is an extraordinary person and someone for whom I have enormous respect. Doris and her husband Bob raised one of our party’s greatest leaders. And they both have made a huge contribution to this country. I look forward to working with Doris for many years to come.”