"He knows that tonight could change his life forever."
"With only days to go, the pressure really is on."
"In the end, it's all down to what the public decides."
Remember: your vote counts
The language of the Election is in danger of morphing into the familiar hyperbole of TV reality shows.
But compared to the slick formats of The Apprentice, The X-Factor, MasterChef and even Over the Rainbow, the clunky mechanics of a general election seem, at best, like a relic from a pre-premium-phone-line era.
At least this time there'll be television debates to focus attention. But with their complicated rules and non-auditioned cast, there's a risk the debates will seem like pilots for a show that should never have been commissioned.
To talk up the contest, David Cameron has called it "the most important election for a generation". The BBC agrees, with Mark Thompson claiming "this could be one of the closest and therefore most ferociously fought elections in living memory."
Indeed, nobody wants to say this isn't going to be some kind of minor historical watershed - even though the political options on offer sometimes seem more a matter of nuance than ideological difference.
But every election is touted in the same terms: 2005: "The most important election ever", New Statesman1997: 'the most important election ever'
2001:
"Realise today that this is the most important election in Labour's history." Daily Mirror
1997: "Politicians always say this is the most important election ever. This time they are telling the truth." Michael Forsyth, The Times
1992:
"Britain is moving into its most important election campaign for 13 years, a campaign that will decide whether the Thatcher decade turns out to be a footnote in British history or the start of a new chapter." The Times 1987: "I don't say it will never exist again, but it perhaps could be unique where you have this combination of a strong third force and unpopular Conservative and unpopular Labour parties." David Owen, Financial Times Let's just agree that this will certainly be the most important election between the last one and the next.
