A night to remember?

I’ve just arrived in the press room in Manchester where the media will be watching the debate; the hotel lobby is full of hacks and spin doctors. The question being asked is whether this is the moment that the electorate begins to engage with the election. Although I know that some in CCHQ worry that tonight’s debate could be so he said, she said that it deepens the public’s cynicism about politics.

Today’s extreme weather has added an intriguing angle to tonight’s proceedings. Douglas Alexander, who along with Peter Mandelson will be working the spin room after the debate, has already claimed that Brown is concentrating more on the lines at the airports than lines for tonight’s debate. It’ll be interesting to see if Brown brings up the cloud of ash in an attempt to reprise the father of the nation shtick that characterised the early months of his premiership with the foiled terrorist attacks, the floods and foot and mouth.