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If you were a politician, whose vote would you go after - the young woman, the small businessperson, the cliched hard-working family?

All worth courting perhaps, but the electoral arithmetic suggests the best group to pursue is older people.

They make up an increasingly large chunk of the electorate, particularly in the North East and Cumbria, and statistically they're the most likely to vote.

The over-55s make up more than half the voters in 30 of our constituencies.

All six Cumbrian seats include a majority of older people, the highest being Westmorland and Lonsdale where more than six out of ten voters are aged over 55.

North Yorkshire also has a host of constituencies in the same category. The over-55s make up around 60% of the electorate in Thirsk and Malton and Scarborough and Whitby.

The North East also has plenty of "grey" constituencies - 20 in all, from Wansbeck (55%) to Tynemouth (53%) from Bishop Auckland (55%) to Middlesbrough South (53%).

And even in the one with the youngest age profile - Newcastle East - there's still more than four in ten voters aged over 55.

So older people must be top of the politicians' agendas?

You wouldn't know it from the main debate that's dominated the election so far - whether to raise National Insurance or not.

Although many older people will be concerned about the economy and funding for public services, the vast majority are retired so won't care what rate of National Insurance is charged.

Instead many in our region will be looking at the state pension. For around a third of people in our area, it's their only source of income, with only between 11% and 13% having a private plan.

And then there's the issue of long term care. All the main parties are agreed that older people shouldn't have to sell their homes to fund care. But there the agreement ends.

Labour want a free National Care Service, but are setting up another Commission to decide how to pay for it. That Commission may consider plans for a 10% "death tax" on people's estates, although it's been ruled out for the next Parliament.

The Conservatives have a plan for a voluntary insurance payment of £8,000 which would then cover the costs of all residential care, but not home care.

And the Liberal Democrats say they can no longer afford to promise free personal care, and want to see resources concentrated on providing respite breaks for carers.

All these issues and others - hospital parking, fuel poverty, public transport - will come up on the Politics Show this Sunday as we bring some older voters face to face with a panel of politicians.

We'll be live from Berwick - where 60% of voters are aged over 55.

The panel is Guy Opperman (Conservative, Hexham), Dave Anderson (Labour, Blaydon) and Simon Reed (Lib Dem, Wansbeck).

I'm in the chair, but it's really the chance for voters to grill the politicians.

And I can tell you that the General Election's number one accessory - my big white bag - will be making another appearance due to popular demand.

I'm not saying when and I'm not saying how, but it'll be there.

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