Lib Dems: Targeting liberal dailies

Charles Kennedy has launched a media assault in a bid to woo disaffected liberals.

The Liberal Democrat leader kicked off his campaign to mop up the left-wing vote on Monday, ahead of the official calling of the election campaign this week.

He used an article in the Guardian newspaper and an interview with the Independent to argue that a vote for his party would not be wasted and that the Lib Dems offer an optimistic alternative to Labour and the Tories.

Appealing to readers of the two most liberal papers, Kennedy played up his radical credentials and opposition to the Iraq war.

He contrasted this with the government and Conservatives' increasingly negative tactics.

In the Guardian article he said that at the moment the electorate is unsettled - largely thanks to the war and the "distaste, and sometimes disgust, at the way Labour and the Conservatives are conducting themselves".

Kennedy confirmed his party will make the case for a Britain that is governed as a progressive, outward looking, environmentally friendly society.

"I favour multiculturalism and our traditions of tolerance and inclusiveness," he said. And he also argued the election is now "clearly three-party politics".

"I won't predict the outcome, but I do sense that our democracy is moving in a new direction and the Liberal Democrats are integral and essential to achieving that change," he said.

Scare tactics

He dismissed Labour scare tactics designed to keep supporters onside of arguing that a Lib Dem vote could let the Tories in.

"Principled points about policy have been pushed aside for the politics of the nursery," he said.

"Their bogeyman is a Liberal Democrat surge putting Michael Howard into No 10. No one believes this fairy tale."

Interviewed in the Independent, Kennedy called on his party to "raise its game" between now and polling day.

He said the Lib Dems must strive to live up to "public expectation".

"What I am detecting in all parts of the country are two things in a much more pronounced way than I have experienced before: one, a public expectation that we are going to do well; and the second is a public goodwill that people want us to do well.

"And that is a terrific current to be working with. It's up to us obviously to capitalise on it. I think the potential is there for a decisively good election for the Liberal Democrats."