How the Liberal Democrats might be seeking to persuade

I am reminded that during the days of the old Liberal-SDP Alliance, during elections the leaders such as David Steel use to try and refer to the two main parties as Tweedle and Tweedledum, and consequently create some space for themselves. However, given that the Alliance won only a few seats (in the 20-30 range) their leverage on both the media, and in key battleground seats was minimal. As a consequence, they tended to get squeezed, and at a national level in the campaign had limited impact.

However, since the party has broken the 50 seat barrier they have more impact, especially when people are thinking about a possible hung parliament. As a result this means that what they do to carve out their own unique space may have some effect on the campaign and the voters. Ex-Paddy Ashdown aide, Olly Grender, writing about the 2005 General Election campaign suggested that the Liberal Democrats used a range of persuasive techniques. So the election message of ‘1P on income tax for education’ might at first appear merely a detail of education policy, but was in reality designed to provide both a rational and emotive reason for people to vote for the third party.

Looking at this election we can already see stylistic ways in which the Liberal Democrats is seeking to diferentiate themselves, and hence give voters reasons to vote for them. First, Nick Clegg's wife is not actively campaigning, unlike the spouses of the two other main party leaders. Whilst this may not be a deliberate strategy, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez may simply have put down her foot it may have an effect. The reason given, that she has a day job to put food on the table may well reasonate well with voters, compared to the other two leaders' wives who by implication are so well off they don't have to work. Second, unlike the Labour and Conservative Manifesto launches, that of the Liberal Democrats had a low level of razzamatazz, rather they focused on the serious issues in a serous way. If the economy is indeed the key question, the Liberal Democrats are clearly hoping that such a sober approach will be appreciated.

In the past the third party gained votes almost because they were not the main two parties. Now their is a fourth 'party' which plays the protest vote role that of Other, comprising Greens, UKIP and BNP that play that anti-system role. Hence the Liberal Democrats need to create their own 'yellow' space. At present I see their two strongest cards being their strength on the ground in their key seats and Vince Cable. In order to be persuasive during the campaign they need to develop other cards, which is why the leaders' debates on TV are almost make or break for Clegg.