The CON team tries to turn it round with eight campaigning days to go

The CON team tries to turn it round with eight campaigning days to go

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Lib Dem housing horror, shock, smear, cute bunnies in #Eastleigh ! twitter.com/byelection/sta… — Michael Fabricant (@Mike_Fabricant) February 19, 2013 Will this approach resonate with voters? With both the LAB and CON candidates being under serious fire in recent days the blues are turning their guns on the Lib Dem over a big planning issue. Their leaflet is above. One of the problems with having a local councillor as a candidate is that he/she is always vulnerable to things like this…

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This looks like a row Cameron should not have got into

This looks like a row Cameron should not have got into

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he Speccie gets it teeth into Cameron over the Mantel-Kate row. blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/20… … twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 19, 2013 The full Spectator article, in which Freddy Gray pulls no punches, is here.

The Eastleigh moves are all in line with what voters predicted would happen

The Eastleigh moves are all in line with what voters predicted would happen

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What different segments of #Eastleigh voters predicted would happen at the start of the campaign. See chart. twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 18, 2013 Another victory for “Wisdom of Crowds” polling? The above finding asking Eastleigh voters what they thought would happen comes from the Lord Ashcroft by election poll taken a fortnight ago immediately after Chris Huhne announced that he was going. As can be seen from the chart there was a widespread view from all segments of…

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The big unknown – the level of Ukip tactical swtching to the Tories to stop the Lib Dems

The big unknown – the level of Ukip tactical swtching to the Tories to stop the Lib Dems

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Maria Hutchings with Grant Shapps/Michael Green twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 17, 2013 Eastleigh could be a guide to GE2015 The Lord Ashcroft Eastleigh poll carried out before any candidates had been selected found that just 50% of those who’d voted CON at GE2010 said that they would do so again at the by-election. The biggest segment of the remainder, representing 21% of 2010 CON voters were those saying don’t know. A total of 9% said they’d switch to…

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General Election 2010: the day the Tories failed to win their 12th easiest target – Eastleigh

General Election 2010: the day the Tories failed to win their 12th easiest target – Eastleigh

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#Eastleigh #GE2010 result showing comparison on 2005. Note the huge squeeze on the LAB vote twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 18, 2013 How a huge LAB>LD tactical switch thwarted CON hopes On May 6th 2010 the Tories made an overall total 100 gains yet still, as we all know, fell short of an overall majority. A reason for that was what happened in seats like Eastleigh which in terms of the votes required for victory was number 12 on…

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Next weekend’s Italian Election by Andrea Parma

Next weekend’s Italian Election by Andrea Parma

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Can Silvio prevent a left majority? Italy is set to hold parliamentary elections on February 24-25th. In 2008 Silvio Berlusconi comfortably won, leading the centre-left coalition of Walter Veltroni by around 9%. As is often the case on the Italian political scene, his government couldn’t finish its 5 year term and Mario Monti took over as a “technocrat” PM in late 2011. 47 lists or coalitions of lists are contesting this election but just five coalitions are likely to poll…

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With the first #Eastleigh ballots starting to be cast I am betting that Diane James of Ukip will beat Labour

With the first #Eastleigh ballots starting to be cast I am betting that Diane James of Ukip will beat Labour

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Diane James – the Ukip candidate in #Eastleigh twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st… — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 15, 2013 Many of those registered to vote by post received their ballot packs yesterday and if past elections are anything to go by then a sizeable proportion will have been completed and posted them back by tomorrow morning. The election has already started. My reading is that the Labour vote will be squeezed by the sheer intensity of the LD campaign. The reason the yellows…

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