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Campaign analysis: Friday April 15
Daniel Forman's daily diary of the election campaign.
Friday April 15 9:40am GMT
The minor parties have been rolling out their campaigns, with Veritas and Respect launching their efforts yesterday.
The Green Party and UKIP campaigns are also underway, although neither will realistically expect do as well as they did in last year's European parliament poll.
Although broadcasters are obliged to pay lip service to all candidates, it is still hard for these smaller parties to get much media exposure amid the daily diet of announcements, visits and press conferences from the big boys.
But at least Veritas and Respect have two genuine political celebrities in Robert Kilroy-Silk and George Galloway, both bronzed former Labour MPs, to attract attention.
Both are skilled media performers and widely recognised public figures.
Both of their parties are also heavily targeting their efforts at getting their top man elected.
The anti-war Respect is aiming to "decapitate" Labour's Oona King in East London, while the anti-EU Veritas has identified the East Midlands as its best chance of success.
Shorn of such personalities since it fell out with Kilroy-Silk, UKIP appears to have dropped off the public's radar.
Even though this is only election in which the public can actually vote to bring Britain out of the EU, the issue is nowhere near the top of the electorate's priorities in this campaign.
The Greens think Brighton Pavilion is their best chance, the seat where they "won" the European elections last year.
But if Labour does as badly as it did then, then this election is much more interesting than expected.
The combination of first-past-the-post and the fact that mid-term elections tend to encourage protest votes means any of the above parties would be ecstatic if they actually gained an MP.
However if enough people feel Labour is on course for a comfortable victory, as the polls predict, then they might decide they can afford a protest vote after all.
Peter Hain could have a rival for the best tan in parliament yet.
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