The Liberal Democrat leadership contenders have been setting out how they would respond in the event of a hung parliament after the next election.
Chris Huhne has appeared to indicate that he could be more open to coalition deals with Labour and the Conservatives than either of his rivals.
In a BBC News 24 debate between the three challengers, Huhne appeared to set fewer requirements for a co-operation deal in the event of a hung parliament.
While Sir Menzies Campbell and Simon Hughes both said they would insist on the introduction of proportional representation as part of any deal, Huhne made no such demand.
"I've been involved in politics for 25 years not to be a second best Conservative or a second best Labour person, but to get Liberal Democrat values, principles, ideas, plans into power," Huhne said.
"The more votes, the more seats we have the more influence we have, the more chance we have of getting that programme into power."
He said it would be "responsible" to support policies the party agreed with. "But we will vote very firmly against issues where we have not campaigned and we disagree."
Sir Menzies said he would be prepared to bring down a minority government as early as the first vote on the new legislative programme.
"If anyone is tasked by the Queen to form a government and produce a Queen's Speech in the House of Commons, which does not contain proposals for electoral reform, then I would take my Liberal Democrat colleagues into the lobby against that Queen's Speech and, yes, if necessary precipitate a second general election," he said.
The acting leader added that in 1983 and 1987 "we allowed our campaigns to be distracted and deflected by too much talk of a hung parliament".
And any coalition deal would not be about cabinet jobs. "That is not what we are in business for," he told the BBC.
Hughes was also clear that electoral reform would have to be part of any deal, but appeared to indicate that he would not seek to force an immediate second election.
"The day after the election, if there is no party with a majority, I would say to the other party leaders 'you have a fair parliament in your programme and legislate for it and then we'll talk.
"'If you don't we are not going to, and every vote you put to the Commons will depend on its merits and there will be no deal.'
"That has to be the way forward."
