Comments on: NEW POLL: will the TV debates make any difference to the Lib Dems?

By: LDV readers say: Televised leaders’ debates will be great help to Lib Dems

LDV readers say: Televised leaders’ debates will be great help to Lib Dems — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:32:03 +0000

[...] fortnight ago, LDV posed the question, What difference, if any, do you think the televised leaders’ debates will make to the Lib Dems… Here’s what you told [...]

By: Matthew Huntbach

Matthew Huntbach — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:26:01 +0000

Clegg was sold to us on the grounds he was some sort of amazing charismatic communicator, so much so that his very presence at the top of our party would give us an instant boost, push us forward in the polls, and keep us there due to this superman at our helm. A fair number of people who had doubts about his policy stand nevertheless voted for him on this basis, enough to give him the majority (plus the other contender wasn’t too much different on policy).

Well, it hasn’t happened (note to the naive – the right-wing press do this every time we have a leadership election – pick the one they want, and convince us he’s so much better than the rest and they’ll respect us more if we have him, then still treat us exactly the same as they did before once we do).

Anyway, we’re stuck with him now, so he’d better do good and prove (really, I am a loyal member of this party, I do want him to do this) my assessment was wrong.

By: David Allen

David Allen — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:51:54 +0000

This will be good for us if Nick puts forward one or two really good, clear, convincing reasons to vote Lib Dem. It will be disastrous for us if he doesn’t. At the moment, he hasn’t. “Savage cuts but not quite as savage as Osborne’s” is not a natural vote winner.

Back in 2005 we were “the real alternative” to two right-wing parties on the Iraq war. Where, oh where, is our equivalent USP this time?

We could have had “Green Tax Switch”, we could have had “Green New Deal”, we could have had “an end to the Afghanistan war”, we could have had “clean up politics”, we could have had “government for ordinary people, not just the millionaire donors and non-doms who run the other parties”. We have dabbled with some of these ideas, but we haven’t really come up with clear leadership on any of them.

It’s rather a surprise that neither Cameron nor Brown has objected to Clegg contesting the debates on equal terms. My guess is that they have allowed it because they think we are vulnerable. They both want to take voters away from us, and they both think they will do well if they go after them.

By: jim

jim — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:49:37 +0000

Yes the consensus seems to be that Nick and the party will automatically benefit, conversely if he makes a gaffe or fumbles or waffles, it could be very damaging indeed.

By: lloyd

lloyd — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:59:07 +0000

Its not the debates that will win or lose but the spinning afterwards. The Tories are better than us or Labour at the moment at making something a media narrative. Don’t write off an on-side Peter Mandleson either. This is where our advantage will be lost.

By: Iainm

Iainm — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:56:34 +0000

I don’t think the debates will make much difference directly, but I expect the nats to make the most of their exclusions in Wales and Scotland and some of that will come at the expense of the Lib Dems.

But then I already reckoned the Lib Dems were in for a proper kicking in Scotland even before this nonsense was announced.

By: Dave Page

Dave Page — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:21:08 +0000

I don’t think this’ll do us any harm. I’m hoping that Nick takes it as an opportunity to push the agenda that Labour and the Tories are more similar than different, and that the only way to really change the system is to vote Lib Dem. We need to think of this as being a generic squeeze message across every constituency!

By: cynicalHighlander

cynicalHighlander — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:45:13 +0000

“They will be utterly irrelevant to how people vote.”

Simply because they are totally undemocratic and have been contrived by the media and the 3 main parties have fallen hook line and sinker into that frenzy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/briantaylor/2009/12/a_blogs_about_blogs.html#P90252995

Just a simple question “With a title of Liberal and Democrat how can you say that you look forward in a liberal and democratic way when this is an example of dictatorship under the cloak of democracy.”

By: Liberal Neil

Liberal Neil — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:23:35 +0000

The likely outcome is that the debates won’t change very much. They will be a about three hours of hundreds of hours of TV coverage during the campaign and will mainly be watched by people who are not going to swing their votes.

They might have an impact if one of three is clearly better than or clearly worse than the others. This is most likely to be Brown being worse.

As others have said there will probably be some benefit to us simply because Clegg is there.

By: kristan

kristan — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:50:28 +0000

i tend to agree. Although Nick may not have the polish of the pounds for press of brown or cameron, he has a genuine chance to get our message across to the mainstream. I may be wrong but I always thought that after a broadcast, we had a bounce. It never ceases to amaze me how many people agree with us after you get to talk to them.

Once people get past the hype, they agree with many policies. This could be our chance to shine against the other two.

By: Andrew Suffield

Andrew Suffield — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:22:08 +0000

I think he tends to win a few points just for being imperfect, rather than reeking of PR polish like some of the well-funded politicians.

As for the debate, I’ve said it before: people tend to see what they expect to see in these things. Supporters of each party will mostly think “my guy gave the best performance here”. As such, I’d expect it to strengthen people’s belief in decisions they’ve already made, but not to change anybody’s mind. People who are still on the fence by the time the debate happens are hard to predict, but most likely not to vote at all.

By: MatGB

MatGB — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:46:20 +0000

I can’t see that we can lose here at all TBH. Either by the time of the campaign Nick’s ready to lead us into it fully, or he’s not. If he’s ready, he wins the debate, hands down. If he’s not ready, we’re screwed regardless.

Let’s face it, Gordon’s in trouble regardless and this is desperation. What policy Dave’s got either he doesn’t believe in or doesn’t understand. Nick’s a liberal. He actually believes in the message of the party, and has a pretty good understanding of the actual policies.

As long as he’s ready and well prepped, he’ll wipe the floor with both of them.

If he’s ready, and well prepped.