I've been wondering what the main issue will turn out to be in the coming election campaign. The war, WMD, taxes, policing and crime have all been important aspects so far, but with Tony Blair always managing to keep one step ahead of Mr Howard by positioning himself firmly to the right of Mr Howard's expected stance. This has made it hard for the Tory leader to find anything with which to place any distance between himself and New Labour in his campaign.
It's traditional for the debate to descend into bitchy, playground level bickering. This is often accompanied by childish poster campaigns, whipped up by low-level party members using photoshop (we always find these posters hilarious, so much so, that we will be producing our own range during the campaign, so look out for these). Who can forget the one with Tony Blair with devil's eyes? or the obviously made-up photo of William Hague in a baseball cap, sitting on a roller coaster: an image so ridiculous, it just couldn't possibly have been real.
This year, Michael Howard has started the ball rolling by using talk of tax cuts as a thinly disguised way of bragging about the size of his penis. Of course, Mr Blair's spin machine have been quick to pick up on this, and the Prime Minister was getting in his own outlandish claims about the size of his own member the following day. This could easily become the main issue upon which this election will be contested and ultimately won.
The question is, where does this leave the Lib-Dems? They have traditionally tried to rise above the playground posturing and name calling, prefering instead to concentrate on developing a purely policy-based political manifesto. And yet, there is often a sense that the Lib Dems are to be found skirting round the main issue that's driving an election campaign. This in turn could lead to speculation that Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy is simply not up to the job. Rumours are already beginning to go round Westminster, that Kennedy will be unable to hold his own in the developing debate. "Quite frankly, he's got a tiny knob.", we would probably be told if we interviewed a Lib Dem party member.