Thursday, June 02, 2016

Campaign Diary: Day 27 - into the final forty-eight hours...

As I've already noted, very few candidates can stand alone. You could produce the campaigning material, deliver the leaflets and do the canvassing on your own, but unless you have nothing else to do, such as a job, or caring responsibilities, or any of the myriad other things that have a call upon our time, it is well nigh impossible, especially in a four week campaign such as this one has been.

Of course, as the candidate, your enthusiasm can be infectious, and if you work hard enough, other people are more likely to invest their time and effort to support you. I'm lucky enough to have friends and colleagues who believe in me, and who have stepped in to share the task of reaching out to as many people as we can, and it is difficult to describe just how grateful I am to them.

The key players have been Ros, my campaign manager (and wife), Martin (my agent) and Wendy Marchant, who has combined the roles of volunteer co-ordination, deliverer and canvasser, whilst serving the people of Needham Market as their District Councillor.

But there are others who have helped to make this possible. Julia Truelove, our County Councillor for Bosmere (which includes Barking and Somersham ward), who has briefed me on key issues and been a friendly face at various Parish Council meetings, John Field, who was my guide to Baylham, has printed target letters and managed Connect, Stephen Andrews, our enthusiastic Local Party Chair, who has thrown himself into the campaign, plus our local deliverers, who have gotten the message out.

It looks as though we will have improved our share of the vote, at least, that's how it feels on the doorstep. My sense is that we can push the Conservatives close, although how close I wouldn't like to say.

And whilst the Greens have run an enthusiastic, if occasionally cynical, campaign, people aren't telling me that they're going to vote Green in huge numbers.

There is still a Labour vote, and those who have said that they will vote Labour seem pretty determined to do so, despite the fact that their candidate is unlikely to win - there's no evidence that theirs is anything other than a paperless campaign as I write.

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