The Campaign Trail - Local Observations 1

So Liz has given her consent and the starting gun has been fired. The worst kept political secret has come to pass, as was widely expected.

Now the phoney war has given way to the real thing, it has created a galvanising effect. There is a new urgency in everything. Emails fly back and forth; phone messages are left. Printers, sorters, deliverers, local press, poster sites ... the minutae of "on the ground" campaigning is energising us all. We are at that brief period where everything seems possible.

Driving round my constituency (the safe seat of Ken Clarke) today I saw little evidence of a looming election. One small, solitary Labour poster in a window. Nothing yet outside Ken Clarke's house. A large poster board outside our PPC's house, which is on the opposite side of the road to Ken's. It will be interesting to see how the poster war plays out.

Leafletting to be done over the weekend. Only three and a half weeks to go ... it all promises to be very exciting.