General election now 'wide open': British PM
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday that the race to win the May 6 general election is now "wide open."
Brown spoke as he was out campaigning in England in the wake of the live TV debate on Thursday, which saw the leaders of Brown's Labor party, the main opposition Conservative party and the third party, the Liberal Democrats, discuss and argue domestic policy for 90 minutes.
"I think the election is wide open and there is a huge debate that is now going to take place," said Brown.
"But I thought that what came out of the debate is a clear idea of what the choices that we now face are, and these are big choices."
He added, "Out of the publicity and hype around the debates over these last few days, I think the big choices of the election have now been established.
"I have certainly been energized by the debate that is taking place in the country."
The historic live TV debate, the first in British political history, had an immediate and profound impact, catapulting Liberal Democratic leader Nick Clegg into prominence on the national stage for the first time. Clegg was hailed the winner in instant polls, by political commentators and even by his two opponents.
The leader of the third force in British politics, which held just 62 seats in the last parliament out of 650, has always been in the shadow of the two larger parties. But the TV debate put Clegg on an equal footing with Brown and Cameron for the first time in front of a national TV audience.
The immediate polls right after the debate put Clegg way out ahead with Cameron second, and Brown coming in third.
More polls the next day showed this personal gain had translated into a party gain, with the Lib Dems gaining 3 percent or more in some polls, with the Conservatives losing a little ground and Labor also shedding a little support.
One area where Clegg may gain support is from the undecided voters and those who were going to vote for small parties like the Greens or the United Kingdom Independence Party, sometimes as a vote against the current political system and its monopoly by the two big parties.
Labor knew before the debate of their leaders' weaknesses. Brown is perceived as dour and serious, and suffers from having been at the heart of government for 13 years and is blamed for some of the economic mistakes in that time.
Cameron has carefully distanced himself from his party's reputation as being uncaring, and has spoken emotionally on TV and in print of the death of his young boy from a genetic disease. He is also perceived as a good communicator.
For the public Clegg was something of an unknown before the TV debate. He had been on the national stage for a little over two years, against two decades for Brown and four years for Cameron.
The public felt he was an unknown quantity, but what they saw in the TV debate pleased them and he and his party received an immediate and substantial boost in the polls.
At the moment he and his party are basking in the boost to their poll rating. Clegg has moved quickly to dampen and control expectations among his own supporters, telling them he was "no Barack Obama," in reference to the charismatic U.S. president.
Clegg can also expect a rougher ride in the coming week, with both parties focusing on both the man and his policies in a bid to shine a light on areas which the public might not like so much.
The next live TV debate on Thursday in a city in the west of England, is eagerly awaited by a public which finds the format reminiscent of talent shows and which relishes the gladiatorial aspect of the encounters.
The subject is foreign policy, which may play well for the Lib Dems as they opposed the war in Iraq, and have criticized government foreign policy. They are also the only party which wants to scrap the country's independent nuclear deterrent, the Trident submarine fleet.
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