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Campaign analysis: Tuesday April 12
Daniel Forman's daily diary of the election campaign.
Tuesday April 12 11:30am GMT
If the glamorous Sandra Howard is the Tories' secret weapon then Lib Dems will hope that Donald James Kennedy, born this morning, will be their salvation.
New-found father, Charles, will rightly be concentrating on domestic duties for the next few days.
But there is little doubting that the six pounds nine ounce baby could not have been better timed.
Some commentators have suggested that wife Sarah could have held for a little longer for maximum impact, but this way the Lib Dem leader can be back on the campaign trail for the crucial closing weeks of the election.
The latest Kennedy to join the clan may also deliver a timely boost for a party which is not yet showing signs of the six point poll boost strategists expect during the campaign.
Maybe, now, a baby bounce will get them going in Labour wards as well as the labour ward.
But the birth will keep the Lib Dems' main asset out of the spotlight for a while. Kennedy's popularity has been unashamedly utilised on campaign posters bearing nothing more than his face and the "real alternative" slogan.
However Kennedy's new responsibilities also raise one key question. Will any of the main party leaders will be fighting the next election, expected in 2009?
Tony Blair has already said he won't while Michael Howard will be 68 by the time the country is subjected to a further round of electioneering.
Kennedy will have the perfect excuse of spending more time with his new and young family if he decides to bow out during the next parliament - having overseen two sizeable increases in Lib Dem ranks at Westminster.
Who then will be leading the charge in 2009 or 10?
It is unlikely to be Lib Dem leadership stand-in Sir Menzies Campbell, who is 64 himself this year.
The two frontrunners in the third party appear to be Mark Oaten and Ed Davey.
It will be interesting to see if either are given the kind of prominent role in this campaign that will increase their public profile.
Home affairs spokesman Oaten has had the tricky task of defining "tough liberalism" but his centrist instincts play well in Lib Dem-Tory marginals.
Local government spokesman Davey is the man behind the popular but left-leaning local income tax policy.
Presidential
Back in Victoria Street, Howard has been running a very presidential campaign.
There were no shadow Cabinet members on stage with him as he launched the Conservatives' manifesto yesterday and today he has been striding out solo in marginal seats.
Shadow home secretary David Davis has taken two prize scalps in the past parliament, but despite crime and immigration being top of the Tory agenda is busy fighting to save his own seat.
Co-chairman Liam Fox at first appeared to be Howard's heir apparent, but in recent months young policy chief David Cameron has emerged as a rival.
A good campaign for either man could boost their chances, especially if Davis falls to the Lib Dems.
As for the Labour leadership, he may have a young son of his own, but Gordon Brown appears more determined and likely than ever to inherit Blair's crown.
No potential rival - John Reid, Charles Clarke or Alan Johnson - has had anything like the same exposure and the only man that has - Alan Milburn - has seen his stock fall rather than rise.
There is no one less likely than the man Peter Mandelson said is a politician 24 hours a day to spend more time with his family.
For the meantime, of course, there is "only one election" they are concentrating on.
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