The Courtship of Nick Clegg

In what could be the first time since Welshman David Lloyd George was Prime Minister, a Liberal party is at the top of the polls. Granted, it's a pollster working for the Tory-leaning Sun (as reported by the Telegraph, linked instead) and not the actual election, but still: the spike in the polls stemming from Thursday's inaugural TV debate has catapulted the distant third party into a viable candidate for coalition government member and even, depending on how individual LibDem candidates capitalise on their party leader's boost, lead party in a coalition government.

Already a recent Sunday Times polls suggests that Clegg, who is running for just his second term in the only Sheffield constituency not controlled by Labour, is the most popular party leader in the UK since Sir Winston Churchill. And now the media scrutiny, as well as that of the beleaguered governing Labour Party and the destined-for-Dewey '48 Conservative Party, is on the LibDem manifesto: one which professes greater integration with the European Union and substantially decreasing Britain's nuclear arsenal. But as Gordon Brown and David Cameron point their slingshots away from each other and instead aim at Clegg, their underlings are quick to work Fleet Street to respond to the practical inevitability of a hung parliament.

Not long after Clegg's victory in the first debate, Home Secretary Alan Johnson repeated to the Times Labour's assertion that the LibDems are best suited for a coalition government with Labour in the event of a hung parliament. The Tories, on the other hand, contend that voting for the LibDems will only help Labour hang on should it come to a hung parliament, even if the Tories gain more seats and Labour wind up with third overall in terms of the popular vote.

No matter the outcome of the 2010 election, Clegg has become the face of this election, but it won't be him alone who will bring about a monumental surge for the LibDems that will shatter the swingometers and upend my Truman '48 analogies. This Tuesday, the three major parties will face off against their nationalist counterparts, Wales' Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party, in televised debates specific to the respective nations. Particularly in Scotland, the LibDems have a strong presence, led by Tavish Scott, while in Wales the LibDem's five Assembly Members are led by Kirsty Williams. For the Conservatives to avoid alienating the LibDems in the event their support is needed for a coalition government, they must hope for enough Scottish and Welsh voters, disgruntled with nationalist agendas, to at least switch their allegiance to LibDem if not Conservative.