In Gordon, there is only one option in May and that is to vote Liberal Democrat. This blog likes to give fair hearing to all unionist parties and their messages, but in the constituency where Alex Salmond is trying be elected, we advocate tactical voting in its purest form.
For a period of time, we felt that it was actually the Tory candidate who sttod the best chance and considered publishing a blog challenging the idea that only Christine Jardine could win the seat or that she had the inbuilt advantage. The Lib Dems have suffered a horrendous decline in fortunes UK wide, so we questioned whether or not they could be relied upon to keep out Salmond. We saw the Euro election poll that put the Tories ahead of the Liberals and many other pieces of evidence that dispute the claim that the Lib Dems are in the best position to win the seat.
However, after much analysis it breaks down to either Tory or Liberal and in terms of the last election, the choice is clear, that Jardine is head and shoulders above the others in terms of her ability to hold off Salmond. The party currently has a majority of over 7000 votes that would not be easily whittled down and with a tactical shift, maybe even increased. Either way Jardine goes in to the vote with the strongest result at the last General election. Her campaign has also been the most active and has received backing from Unite Against Separation (UAS). There have also been reports of her being handed cash by local Conservative members. If Salmond is the ‘Yes’ candidate it is clear that Jardine is the ‘No’ candidate.
For all the good intentions of the others, Tory, Labour and UKIP, all of whom have decent candidates and worthy campaigns on local issues (unlike Salmond). But sadly the nature of post referendum politics has left a situation where tactical voting is required. In Gordon, that means voting for the Liberal Democrats.
For a period of time, we felt that it was actually the Tory candidate who sttod the best chance and considered publishing a blog challenging the idea that only Christine Jardine could win the seat or that she had the inbuilt advantage. The Lib Dems have suffered a horrendous decline in fortunes UK wide, so we questioned whether or not they could be relied upon to keep out Salmond. We saw the Euro election poll that put the Tories ahead of the Liberals and many other pieces of evidence that dispute the claim that the Lib Dems are in the best position to win the seat.
However, after much analysis it breaks down to either Tory or Liberal and in terms of the last election, the choice is clear, that Jardine is head and shoulders above the others in terms of her ability to hold off Salmond. The party currently has a majority of over 7000 votes that would not be easily whittled down and with a tactical shift, maybe even increased. Either way Jardine goes in to the vote with the strongest result at the last General election. Her campaign has also been the most active and has received backing from Unite Against Separation (UAS). There have also been reports of her being handed cash by local Conservative members. If Salmond is the ‘Yes’ candidate it is clear that Jardine is the ‘No’ candidate.
For all the good intentions of the others, Tory, Labour and UKIP, all of whom have decent candidates and worthy campaigns on local issues (unlike Salmond). But sadly the nature of post referendum politics has left a situation where tactical voting is required. In Gordon, that means voting for the Liberal Democrats.