A Peashooter Going Up Against A Bazooka

Labour and the Conservatives are looking to attack the LibDems for being pro Europe and against Trident. The LD say they are ready!

Does this remind anyone of the 'go back to your constituencies and prepare for government." moment.

Jim Jepps has blogged about his favourite LibDems, talk about love bombs.

Clegg said: "Since I took over the party, I have been praying to get into an argument about ideology. We didn't stand a chance if our argument about change was confined to billboards and posters - that's like a peashooter going up against a bazooka. We can't compete." "Of course they'll attack and of course they'll come up with all sorts of misleading claims. Of course the old parties will start lashing out now," he said.

An Electoral Commission spokesman said that the leaders debate last week had triggered a "massive boost" in registration. In every previous election registration has closed with the announcement of polling day but for this one there was a new 11-day window for people to sign up after it was called. So something good came out of the debate, along with a weeks worth of headlines.

Gordon Brown has said Lib Dem policies must be "exposed" after polls suggested a jump in support for the party. The prime minister said the Lib Dem economic proposals were "mistaken," while proposed Conservative spending cuts posed a risk to the recovery. "I think the Liberals have got to be exposed. They are going to cut child tax credits, they are going to cut the child trust fund, they have got a very strange proposal for the winter fuel allowance for pensioners that they want to introduce immediately," he said.

After polls taken after the first TV debate put the Lib Dems up by as much as eight points, their leader Nick Clegg said a "little door had opened."

Meanwhile, the Tories have said the Lib Dems cannot be trusted on Europe. And they are attacking on Trident. Dr Fox hit out at Liberal Democrat plans to cancel the Trident replacement nuclear deterrent, saying it put the future of Plymouth dock at risk because there won't be enough work, and said the decision would mean "the end" of BAE Systems' shipyard at Barrow in Furness. A few months ago the Tories were all for delaying Trident, but the LibDems seem to have pushed them to flip.

The Greens are not only against trident, unlike the LibDems we are against all nuclear weapons.

Craig Murray, now a LibDem, puts it like this "I want to see an immediate start to withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan and I do not want to see a replacement for the vastly expensive Trident nuclear missile system. On each one of those major policy points, I am in agreement with at least 40% of the UK population, but on none of those points is my view represented by any of the three major political parties. And remember, only those three major political parties will be represented in the televised leaders' debates that will play such a key part in the election."