´óÏó´«Ã½

It took 10 years to get elected as a Liberal Democrat MP. So he (and his long suffering wife) knows just how much effort it takes to persuade people to vote for his party.

That's why he and every Lib Dem we've spoken to today has a spring in their step following in the first .

"I think it's a potential game changer," he says. "This was just the first of three debates and we take nothing for granted but it emphasises that this is a real three horse race."

"For us its about credibility, convincing people that we can win and I think this performance will do us the power of good."

In traditional Conservative East Anglia the Liberal Democrats have always struggled to win seats both at Westminster and on local councils.

When the Conservatives were unpopular the Lib Dems did well and won control of councils like Norwich, South Norfolk, Chelmsford and Milton Keynes.

But as the Tories have rebuilt themselves, those councils have slipped away.

Many in the party feared that in this general election they'd get badly squeezed - perhaps even losing Cambridge which they won last time.

So even though a recent opinion poll put the Liberal Democrats in joint third place in , their main target seat in the East, activists are now brimming with confidence.

Will it be short lived? The Conservative's so. On a visit to Norwich she predicted that Nick Clegg's success would backfire.

"What will happen now is that people will look a little more closely at the Liberal Democrats' policies and they'll see some of the contradictions in those policies and that sometimes they don't seem to be able to make up their minds."

"We are the ones with a spring in our step because on the doorsteps people keep telling us they want change and we are that change."

It's often said that to be a Liberal Democrat you need to be an eternal optimist. They know that there have been many false dawns for the party - particularly in our region. Will this be any different?

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• - What's this?