Another busy week on the campaign trail. You get the feeling we could just spend all our time in Aveley. Indeed there has been a great debate on our site from various sides of the political divide.
Needless to say, Thurrock Lib Dem candidate, Carys Davis has had a spring in her step after the success of Nick Clegg on the Leaders’ Debate. It would appear that the other two parties have turned it into a presidential debate which is all well and good but the public at the moment seem to like to other fella. Put him together with Vince Cable and they may just have something here.
Gordon Brown and Davd Cameron have pulled off a remarkable trick. They made themselves look like Richard Nixon and Nick Clegg like JFK. Outstanding!
Carys has now ventured into Chafford Hundred which could be a rich hunting ground for Lib-Dem votes. At whose cost, we aren’t sure.
Stephen Metcalfe must have a picture in the attic as he continues to glide through the election, unruffled, composed and measured. His team are impressive. I was particularly impressed with the way they organised and choreographed the morning with Shadow Home Office Minister Chris Grayling then the next day met Shadow Transport Minister Theresa Villiers in Orsett to hand over the Lower Thames Crossing petition.
Indeed, Carl Morris’ campaign also has the similar kick about it. In many ways it is like watching marathon runners. We are now at the half way stage but Carl and Stephen both look like they are in front, dictating the pace and ready to cover any break aways.
Angela Smith? Well, Angela is determined to go down fighting and is fighting a terrific and energised campaign. She is out every day, was in East Tilbury this morning but you have the feeling that Angela knows that the odds are against her. However, that personal touch, the Pitsea factor and her energy means that you never know.
As for Jackie Doyle-Price in Thurrock. She has a small but loyal team around her that are putting in the work. You just wonder if the team are big enough. Indeed there are many things we wonder but, in fairness to Jackie, we will leave that for after May 6th.
As for the local campaigns. As you can see we are having a look at each ward each day. We are trying to predict who will win and are notoriously bad at doing that.
I hope people are enjoying our coverage. It, as they say in the USA, validates what we do. We are conscious that there is rather a lot and we hope it doesn’t dominate the coverage too much.
Having said that, it is about time we went out and asked the people of Thurrock what they actually think and who they will be voting for. With that in mind we will be conducting our own opinion polls throughout next week.
It looks like the Lib-Dems are having an effect on the voting public with the polls now putting them ahead of the Cons and Lab, maybe people are now after a change having seen the mess Labour have made of the country and the Conservatives before them.