Gedling's two horse race faces Lib Dem challenge
After Nick Clegg's breakthrough in the leaders' debate, could the Liberal Democrats' surge have an impact on marginal constituencies like Gedling?
I was with local Lib Dem activists today, watching them stuff envelopes with election leaflets. Such back room tasks can be part of the routine grind of an election campaign, but the Lib Dems were beaming.
They're confident the party can boost the 14% share of the vote they achieved in 2005.
The Lib Dem candidate is Julia Bateman, who commutes between her Kettering home and the London offices of the Law Society, where she works.
"I think people are fed up with the switch from red to blue, and blue to red. I'm here to offer an alternative. We already have former Labour Party members in Gedling who are now working for my campaign," she told me.
Bruce Laughton, the Conservative candidate, is a Nottinghamshire county councillor. As photo ops go, the site of the former Daybrook laundry is pretty downbeat. Until a few years ago, the laundry employed 300 people. He blames such factory closures on Labour policies.
"The first thing this government should do is not to increase national insurance. It's a tax on jobs. We need a government that understand business and has the expertise necessary," he says.
This Labour-held Nottingham constituency has its mature leafy suburbs. It also has pockets of some of the highest unemployment in the East Midlands. The final batch of unemployment figures before polling day is unlikely to show a dramatic change in some of the worst hit wards.
The Conservative have spent heavily in negative campaigning in seats like Gedling. Images of Gordon Brown are plastered on many poster sites in the constituency.
Labour's Vernon Coaker defends a majority of just over 4,300. A former deputy head teacher, he's now the government's schools minister. He won the seat off the Tories in the Labour landslide of 1997, and dismisses the poster campaign. Mr Coaker says it's the government's investment in public services that is the key message.
"Just look at the investment we have put into the schools and the hospitals, Sure Start and tax credits. This has far more impact on the lives of ordinary people than a few Tory posters, he says.
Marginal Gedling used to be a two horse race. Labour v Conservative. But with another leaders' debate this Thursday and Nick Clegg's star still rising, all bets are off.
Hello. My name is John Hess. I'm the BBC's Political Editor for the East Midlands and this blog will offer my musings on the political scene from Westminster to closer to home. 
