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Election 07

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Over to you

  • Betsan Powys
  • 2 May 07, 09:42 PM

Will the last person to leave the Senedd tonight switch off the lights?

Well, ok, the 91Èȱ¬ office in the Senedd. And that'll be my job.

Downstairs the Neuadd is still jam packed full of technicians, unravelling cables, putting up their lights and rostra. Tomorrow night the Wales 60 party will be in full swing and the polls will be about to close.

Wandering about the Senedd this afternoon I bumped into a government press officer, musing over what his boss will find when he makes it back to Cardiff Bay (when, not if - loyalty you see). The offices have been stripped, paperwork gone, walls bare - ready for the next lot. A bit of a shock, he said, seeing it like that - concentrates the mind.

Names have been removed from doors, (probably stuck in a drawer somewhere), waiting for the announcement of the next cabinet. And that's where you come in of course.

So, off to do one more stint tonight and then - it's over to you.

And the winner is…….

  • Brian Taylor
  • 2 May 07, 06:13 PM

The Oscars for ugly people. Thus one of my esteemed colleagues described elections. Seems a tad brutal – but I couldn’t resist. So here they are.

Best Photocall: Annabel Goldie and the Tories by a street. The quad bikes, the launch in a kids play area – and, above all, today with Bella dangling from an abseiling rope in Leith. (The Tories would also win worst photocall for that early gag with the silent megaphones outside Holyrood – but no matter.)

Best Manifesto Launch: The most confident, the most polished was that offered by the SNP. Labour’s was effective, Nicol Stephen’s microphone didn’t work. On balance, it has to be the Nationalists.

Best Campaign Event: Despite my resolution to eschew business breakfasts, I’ll go for the Edinburgh gig addressed by Gordon Brown and Jack McConnell. Strong speeches, strong message – and an extended opportunity to question both afterwards.

Best Honed Message: Nicol Stephen with his response to the coalition question. From the outset, he was ready (I suppose he’s had all that time in power to prepare.) By the close, he had his answer word for word. Ready to talk, no to independence referendum.

The astute among you – and readers of this blog are scientifically established as the most astute folk on the globe – will have spotted that I have included each of the majors.

All have won and all must have prizes, to quote that great political observer, Lewis Carroll.

Swinging cats

  • Betsan Powys
  • 2 May 07, 03:26 PM

As someone once said - and that someone is standing in this election - "I haven't had time to swing a cat" (think about it) so sorry for the silence and slow approval of your comments.

Tomorrow night there will be help at hand to keep things going.

There'lll also be a constituency results service via text messages to your mobile. If you want to be 'among the first' to know the results - handy word that, among - and ring your friends in the middle of the night with the news that Wrexham's gone this way and Clwyd West has gone that - then sign up for the service by going to this address, click on the box saying "results by text" and that'll explain how you can register.

A late contender for best joke of the campaign comes from the Lib Dems, though I'm told it's been around in different guises for a while.

"Responding to Plaid Cymru's claim that there will be a 'late surge' for them, Jenny Willott MP, campaign chair for the Welsh Liberal Democrats said: "We've more chance of seeing the late Serge Gainsbourg in this campaign, than a late surge to Plaid. "

Boom boom.

I saw the Electoral Commissioner this morning and it looks as though the tougher registration system hasn't put people of sending in postal votes. The number hasn't dipped, which is what they might have expected.

Oh and I hear Sky News have been trying to poach the Shadow Welsh Secretary from us. They've been schmoozing the Welsh Tories and trying to talk them into letting Cheryl Gillan appear on their broadcasts tomorrow night, rather than a "local results programme". That's us by the way.

Perhaps we'll let her send them a few texts ...

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