Election time

I'm in the fortunate position of living in a marginal constituency; that relatively rare instance where one Member of Parliament is perilously close to being overthrown by an opposing candidate. That would, you would think, enhance interest in the campaigning going on upto polling day, now just three days away. Yet aside from a few posters around for an independent running on a take Blair to court banner, local excitement at the potential of an electorial upset has been utterly absent, with next to no evidence of posters in windows and candidates on the streets (at least at the times when I'm been treading the tarmac).

I see myself as an exception to most of the electorate. I studied politics, and I'm the sort of person who stays up to the wee small hours of the morning on election night to see the results being called across the country, and the picture of victory or defeat emerge for each respective party. Yet even I am having trouble with choosing a local candidate to vote for.

The problem is that my constituency has traditionally be a Conservative area, but since 1997 has been in the hands of Labour. Using the website whoshouldyouvotefor.com I've been able to affirm the parties whose policies at this election are most in-line with my own feelings. This would indicate that I should vote for the LibDems, yet they come a rather distant third in this area. I could then vote strategically: either to protest again Blair's push to war in Iraq and move toward a presidential-style of leadership by voting for the Tories, or to ensure that the Conservatives with their anti-immigrant policies don't get back in by voting Labour. Yet neither of these options are looking particularly enticing.

I come from a rural and traditionally Conservative area, and do prefer their countryside policies to the town and city focus of Labour, yet at this election the Conservative's policies seem completely at odds with what I value myself, or at best are of no particular interest to me.

With three days to go it seems that my decision on polling day may go as close to the wire as the overall vote in this marginal constituency.