What journalists know, but can never admit: election campaigns don’t matter

I love election days.  Some of that is just the simple, wondrous glee that democracy deserves but doesn’t get enough of.  Really, whatever its flaws and frailties, a collectively-agreed and universally accepted set of essentially voluntary arrangements where we all get a say on hiring and firing our rulers is pretty damn glorious.   To hell with cynicism: whatever you think of your local candidates or the political class as a whole, the simple act of voting is great, just great. We should remember – and say – that more often. 

But my enjoyment of polling day goes beyond lofty stuff like that. I’ve just emerged from 20 years as a full-time journalist, most of it spent doing politics.  For political hacks, polling day is an unofficial holiday. Politicians don’t really do any politics on polling day, because perfectly sensible legal restrictions limit what we can say about an election in progress, and because the only things people really care about (the results) aren’t clear until deep into the night or even the following morning, so there’s no real point in doing much work on the day.  

Of course, you can, if you’re keen, still bother all your contacts to see what they think the results will be, but they’re usually in the dark too.