Midway Point of the Election

We’re now at the halfway point of the campaign with a little more than two weeks until election day. To be honest, I’m a little disappoint with the election so far. With only a month long campaign, I was expecting it to be more intense that it has been. That may be due to the fact that there really aren’t any ads on TV.

The Conservatives seem to have been the winners of week one of the campaign. Their argument that the proposed rise in NI tax would kill growth in jobs seems to have been resonating with voters, and they were able to bring big business leader aboard publicly. Their momentum was killed by the debate. While I don’t think there was a clear winner, Nick Clegg did come across well. Even if the Lib Dems didn’t actually win the debate, they won the debate of who won the debate.

What I don’t understand is how the Lib Dems are able to continue to avoid answering what they would do in the case of a hung parliament. Their position of avoiding answering it seems to be unsustainable. If I were running either the Tories’ or Labour’s campaign, I would use the second debate to either get them to answer the question or blast them for avoiding it. If they say they will support either a Tory or Labour government, their support will erode. They would become the junior version of one of those parties. If you want one of those parties in power, why would you vote for the Lib Dems? If they don’t answer, you criticise them for not being honest with the electorate. The debate is the perfect time to push the issue.