All to play for in Hartlepool

Guardian

...The Lib Dems have flooded the town with activists and posters. And yesterday's final Lib Dem flyer, distributed to all 40,000 households in the town and adjoining villages, proclaimed a "photo-finish" and urged waverers to vote to save the local hospital.

For good measure, it carried a photo of George Bush with Tony Blair, though Iraq has not been as important as crime, antisocial behaviour and the NHS in this intensely local contest where a candidate's birthplace is an issue.

So much so that when Hartlepool United drew 2-2 with Hull this week, Labour flyers were handed out showing Mr Wright in local colours and Ms Dunn in rival Darlington strip because she used to live 20 miles away.

Labour also recycles her misplaced blog joke that locals are "either drunk, flanked by an angry dog or undressed". When she repeated the remark on BBC radio, it was put up on a special Labour phone line, its number circulated by text message.

In Labour's eve-of-poll flyer (also 40,000 copies) it is contrasted with Mr Wright's wholesome verdict: "hard-working, loyal and proud, with a great sense of humour".

Lib Dem officials admit Labour is still ahead by eight wards to seven, with two "too close to call".

The Tory candidate, Jeremy Middleton, is struggling not to save the second place the party held in 2001, but to beat Ukip's Malcolm Allison into third place.

Odds offered by William Hill confirm the cautious predictions of local journalists, with Labour the strong favourite at four to one on; the Lib Dems 11/4 against; and the Tories at 20/1, ahead of Ukip on 40/1.