Second leaders' debate.

Well that was another exciting debate - clearly I was completely and utterly wrong when I said they were going to be boring and prescribed. Everybody upped their game a bit, except perhaps for me - I simply didn't have the stamina to blog it live. I nearly gave myself RSI on twitter, though - I don't have the figures, but today has possibly been my tweetingest day ever, what with everything being Nick Clegg's fault this morning and the debate this evening. As I say, I don't have the figures, but if I was Sky News I could simply make them up. Apparently 92% of the population thought that David Cameron won the election and that he's a really nice man.*

Personally I think Nick Clegg did the best again - Gordon Brown has only had to beat expectation in the debates by not having a stroke at the podium, and on that score he has sailed through, surviving two sessions of cut and thrust verbal parrying. He tends to wibble between pre-prepared catchphrases, gurning and grinning and groaning at the camera. It made me nervous. Clegg, however, has been in his element - he has found here a platform where he can connect people and talk through issues in a way that makes him seem normal and connected with the viewer.

It's a total myth that a politician could ever be a 'normal bloke' because a) they're politicians and b) there's no such thing anyway. It's a tightrope over the Niagara Falls for an electioneering politician to walk, making a voter feel like you have their specific issues in mind, that you care about them and you're genuinely emotionally invested in their wellbeing. From my own (limited) experience of working in parliament, which I've never really talked about here for various reasons and probably still won't, Nick is very charming, charismatic and engaging. He is also earnest about what he and the party stands for - his passion is for communicating what he believes in, what the party stands for, where the other chaps are dead focused on winning power.

It's a subtle but important distinction - Nick wants to win you over not because he's right and you're wrong (which Gordon Brown was effectively saying this evening) but because he believes what he's saying is in your interests and for your benefit. He has his faults - and who doesn't - but what is so disarming about him is that he's often prepared to admit them and own up to them. I really like that about him.

I'm off to bed - but I can't wait to wake up, this election just keeps getting better and better.

*This is made up.