For all I know Ashton may have virtues that would make him "electable". But the fact that his people are good at playing "rent a mob" to win some delegate selection meetings
"Rent a mob?" What the hell are you talking about? The whole idea of selling memberships during leadership and constituency nomination meetings is to pack them in your favour so you win. Many people who sign up in this fashion drift away afterwards. What Ashton has done is not out of the ordinary, and I think the complaints against Ashton signing up ethnic voters is motivated by racism and an "old guard" mentality.
The people who know him best are the people in caucus and they've rejected him almost en masse. That says something too. In fact I wonder whether if he won (still highly unlikely from what I hear) half the current caucus would not run again and would run for a lifeboat rather than go down with the Titanic.
You're right, any leader not endorsed by the party caucus is a disaster waiting to happen. That Layton guy had the support of only 2 caucus members, and look where the party ended up.
By the way, did it not occur to you that it is possible to endorse one candidate and still respect or think highly of the other?