What campaign?

Ever get the impression no one is taking this campaign seriously? A warm weather weekend and the date now known, yet you will be hard pushed to find a campaign by anyone. A few house posters have started to appear (Greens and Liberal Democrats), alongside the UKIP billboards (dominated by a head and shoulders of their 'BNP pin-up', an impression aided by easy facial hair defacement) but the only party workers spotted in a weekend wander were leafleteers.

The weekend leaflet count through our letter box was 1 each for Greens, Liberal Democrats and an interesting Independent candidate, Craig Murray. Nothing yet heard from the Labour Party and the Tory interventions were the same glossy leaflet put through the letterbox twice immediately after Ian's resignation. I'm sure things will warm up, but when a campaign relies on leaflets and photo-opportunities it means it is short of people on the ground.

The Lib Dem leaflet was a useful reminder of why I can't vote for them, nasty and snidy - and then there were the scary pictures of their candidate..... they will need to bus in a lot of door-knocking bodies to stand any chance.

Ian Gibson anyone? An interesting poll shows he would attract 40% if he stood as an independent - perhaps the same pollsters that showed Labour on 30% and only 5% behind the Tories. (see Michael Crick's blog for more on these)