People are already summising that the Clegg bounce did not help the party make a breakthrough, it failed to see the party progress, and it disappeared all too quickly. To justify this they point to the number of seats the Lib Dems lost. But is that true. I don't think so.
For myself, I have found people on the door to have been impressed by the Lib Dems, they have taken us seriously and they know more about us. But more important than anything else, consider where the Lib Dems would have been without the bounce.
How many more seats might the Lib Dems have lost if the Tory/Labour fight had been more intense with the Lib Dems totally squeezed out ? I could see, in these circumstances the Lib Dems not only losing a handful of seats, but the party have been reduced to 35 MP's and two elections of hardwork would have been undone overnight.
So don't blame the Clegg bounce for the Lib Dems doing less well than we hoped. Instead we should be grateful that the Clegg bounce stopped as doing as badly as we might have done.
5 comments:
This is nothing new. I remember previous elections where a "Liberal Breakthrough" was reported and like them this has come to nothing. It would be good if there was a Tory/Liberal coalition. If there was it could be the end of the labour party in England, and increase the Libs share of the vote in future elections. Liberals in the past have become to near to labour that has been their problem when the could have filled the centre ground after 1997.
My point is without the bounce it would have been even worse.
Question is why wasn't that support turned into votes on polling day? In my area of Broadland (Coltishall) there was no visible activity from any of the parties. Perhaps a greater Libdem presence might have turned suupport into votes. By contrast, my wife and I bumped into Norman Lamb twice during the election period at separate events in Hoveton.
If we had the membership and activist levels of North Norfolk, we could do more. As it is, we don't YET.
If you want to get involved, please let us know.
As it is, even with lots of activists we would still target the larger area first. In Broadland that would mean Taverham, Drayton, Horsford, Spixworth, Aylsham, Reepham, Fakenham, Brundall, Blofield, Rackheath and Acle.
Broadland is a massive constituency and difficult to cover if you have 200 people available on polling day.
I would add though that Dan and his team were canvassing in Coltishall on Wednesday.
As for me, I went to help Norwich Couth on polling day knowing my help would be more valuable there. I was proved right.
I have no problems with true liberals its the SDP eliment ( Ex Labour) that are the problem. I hope Cameron and Clegg can make progress it is the best oppotunity the Libs have had and should not throw it away over PR. I used to be a member of The Gladstone Liberal club when I was a lad in my home town of Southport so have played snooker with the best of them.
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