Day 4

Good Friday. Start of the most important of the Christian festivals . I decide to slow down and not overdo the campaigning this weekend, concentrate on things spiritual instead and spend some time with my kids. That resolution gets stopped in its tracks with a flurry of texts and calls once people start reading the Herald poll which appears to give us a lead, even in local government elections. I am more cautious and try to calm down my more enthusiastic colleagues. One swallow and all that. Even though the results seem to bear out our experience on the doorstep I think all this shows is that folk are taking their opposition to several places rather than simply coalescing round one party. More importantly, this poll shows that this election will be won and lost on what the “don’t knows” decide once they get in the booth at the polling station. We still need to give them a reason to vote for us, rather than depend on them simply not to vote for someone else. Still, for the darkest day in the Christian Calendar, its a nice wee shaft of light on what are otherwise still challenging times.