Not gonna be... a Kingmaker (by Peter Gabriel/Nick Clegg)

Elsewhere in politics, and the left-of-centre papers (ie the Guardian and the Independent) are starting to quietly root for Mr Clegg and his Liberal Democrats.

It's not really surprising. The idea of either paper supporting the Tories seems rather far-fetched to put it mildly, and supporting Labour is a risky option. With the Lib Dems, however, the pressure appears to be off: after all, no-one is expecting the third party to win the election, especially as it would have to gain more than 200 seats. But with almost all forms of media harping on about the possibility of a hung parliament, Clegg is still having to play the difficult balancing act of appearing neither pro-Labour nor pro-Tory, but not to the extent that he's completely averse to a possible coalition. It's one heck of a tightrope act, but so far he's pulling it off, and the increased publicity so far appears to be helping.

Firstly, Clegg has four clear policies: raising the personal tax threshold to £10,000; £2.5bn extra funding for schools; a reform of Westminster after the expenses scandal; and a reform of the City, in particular the banks. Secondly, he's positioned himself cleverly in the middle of the two main parties, mainly through combining their two slogans (which has not gone down well with the Tories especially). And thirdly, in Vince Cable he has an economic adviser who is both popular and seen to be experienced, which is not quite the case for either Darling or Osborne.

If the Lib Dems can keep up this extra publicity - and with the up-and-coming TV debates, it looks like they will - then it could have severe repercussions for the Tories. Labour have very cleverly chosen not to attack the Lib Dems, and have thus made it look as if another Lib-Lab pact might be in the offing: the Conservatives, on the other hand, have made it clear they are not at all comfortable with the idea of allying themselves to a party that is "all over the place".

Maybe the Tories won't need the Lib Dems' help: Cameron showed in last week's PMQ's that he does have some fight in him, and he's said he'd be prepared to sack Osborne if necessary. But distancing themselves so overtly from Clegg n' Cable (it'll catch on) is a risk.

Chris