Media muscle marks the mood
It wos the media wot lost it for Clegg, suggests Dougal Paver.
The British public don't go for negative campaigning in the American style.
So goes the received wisdom and, by and large, the main political parties avoid the worst excesses of personality-based mud-slinging and policy-trashing that we see across the pond.
The media, however, have just shown us that they play by no such rules - and that negative campaigning can work.
In short order we went from the novelty of Cleggmania to three weeks of concentrated dismantling of the Lib Dems' whole electoral platform. Vince Cable's inconsistent economic policies were rubbished and the party's manifesto held under such a cold light that the electorate froze when presented with its implications.
The result? The party expected to turn the election on its head got trounced.
Now Fleet Street is reminding Clegg of the responsibility a Kingmaker holds and hammering home the weaknesses inherent in his position. In essence, they're telling him 'over play your hand, pal, and we'll ensure there's another election in short order -and we'll remind the public where the blame lies'.
Not for nothing, I suppose, are they called the Fourth Estate.
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