As the old nags of general election 2010 passed the tree that started the marked mile, a punter thought…

The blue leads out but looks strangely unconvincing and the bookies odds don’t make me think they are convinced either. The red looks dead on its feet and is relying on the whip. The yellow looks perky-ish  for something with three legs and then there are a whole host of long shots and non-dark horses.

This government looks more than ready to lose an election so the question is whether the novice jockeys, Dave and Gideon can steer what looks like a narrow winner. No given with the redactions and edits in their PR, policy and financial stories and the problems of the first-past-the-post-system.

Reading: Tactical voting – definition

Reading: Tactical Voting – what to do

Reading and watching: Hung parliaments in the UK

Watching: The Straight Choice – the election leaflet project