Time to come off the fence and use my vote for ...

I've left my ballot paper long enough and have now filled it in. I did though um and ah for sometime before marking my cross.


The were a number of factors that swayed me.


Personality:

Nick Clegg has a warmth, a sense of being very normal that I like and I can see the electorate warming to. Chris has less natural charm, but I actually think he comes across with more authority on issues and has more gravitas, so for me neither of them outscored each other in this aspect.



Policy:

I have to say I think that Chris won this area of the debate. I back Chriss views on Trident and feel Nick Clegg is not wise to remove our bargaining position on nuclear weapons before the next round of talks on nuclear disarmament. In general, I felt there was obviously a general agreement on most issues but Chris huhne has shown that he has from the front bench been able to get his ideas across as party policy really well and this meant he outscored Nick on policy.



Campaigning:

There are two aspects to this, both dominated by Chris Huhne. I feel the Huhne campaign has been better in almost every respect, both in terms of literature, which I have had more of from Huhne plus an obviously localised Focus style "Riso" style leaflet which appears to campaigning hacks like me. But also Chris' leaflets have focussed more on issues than on style, which again I find appealing.



The aspect I didn't about Chris Huhne's campaign was the negative tone of his campaign. His constant attacking Nick Clegg on whether Nick supports school vouchers (which I gather he has said he does not on several occasions) and the disastrous personal attacks on Nick Clegg and the whole "Calamity Clegg" affair, which I felt Chris dealt with poorly and offered a poor excuse over.



In contrast Nick's campaign has been bland and a little too safe.



In conclusion:


For me, there were two deciding factors. I tarted the campaign feeling Nick was the warmest and had the most appeal with the electorate, and I have not altered my opinion of this in any way. I felt Chris' attacks on Clegg were uncalled for and were over the top for an internal election, and this undid all the excellent campaigning he has done. in the other key area, policy, Chris' successes over the last two years should mark him out as a leader, but for me they show that we don't need Chris as a leader in order to get his policies.


So I voted for Nick Clegg so we can get the warm likable leader who speaks with a passion and conviction whilst we get the excellent polices of Chris Huhne coming through from our front bench.