A light hearted look at local politics: At long last it's finally started, this week has seen the beginning of the long awaited election campaign in North Lincolnshire, and while there has been no official announcement from Gordy about when he's going to get the kicking he deserves, it's become apparent that the general consensus is that it will be on 6th May. Mainstream Contenders: The bookies favorite is of course good old time Scunny Laborite and Principal of 6th for college Nick Dakin. And lets be honest, if it wasnt for the fact that he was representing the Labor party I'd say he'd probably be local favorite too! Sadly however the sycophantic attitude, stomach turning solidarity and camaraderie shown by the local party to disgraced Labor MP Elliot Morley may very well turn voters away from Labor. Don't forget the other local candidate too though, Neil Poole from Messignham. Originating from Scunthorpe Neil's another excellent local choice especially with the Liberal Party occupying such a central location politically, and they where the only main stream party to openly oppose the War in Afghanistan. Neil is currently a councilor on North Lincolnshire Council and is chairman of the local Federation of Small Businesses. The Conservatives have drafted in an out of town candidate who has been airdropped in from Retford. Up until last month Caroline Johnson had made it as far as the Tory heartlands of Kirton Lindsey and Scawby, but recently upped her game by taking a tour of the Steelworks in February where she got the opportunity to bang on about growing up in Teesside. This some how lets her empathies with the working classes of Scunthorpe but I for one struggle to comprehend this. The Not - so Mainstream Now this is where the interesting vote will come from or rather go to. The last European elections in the area saw candidates from UKIP, Greens, BNP and many more make significant gains on previous elections in the area but not necessarily in Scunthorpe its self. It will be very interesting to see if these same parties stand candidates in Scunthorpe especially with the Expenses Scandal hitting the local Labor movement so badly. So - any of you guys standing here? get in touch we'll give you a feature, better still, sign up and write your own! Keep an eye out for anti-sleaze candidates also, in May 2009 Stuart Maw from Winterton threatened to stand against Elliot Morley if he didn't stand down. Well, he did so Stuart's not standing. I'm wondering if there are any crack pot self interested, self appointed opportunists out there ready to have a pop at the status quo and stand? If so you'll need to find about 500 quid which you loose if you don't poll at least 5%. You'll also get a shed load of support from those locally who feel sold out by the main stream parties. We've received unconfirmed reports that the BNP have been out leafleting in Scunthorpe already and will be standing a candidate in Scunthorpe following the success of ex National Front leader Andrew Bronse in the EU Elections. Other interesting news is the "None of the Above Movement" which instead of just not bothering to vote encourages voters to spoil their ballots with the words "None of the Above" to demonstrate their lack of faith in current British politics. All in all I think it's going to be a very exciting election, I'm looking forward to the local candidates canvassing on the door step and watching the election night count its self. Though yesterday in my excitement I did confuse 2 representatives of the charity Red Cross, thinking they were canvassing for the Kinghts Templar party. I immediately started an enthusiastic grail quest conversation with them till they left (empty handed). So Who are You Voting For? Well, thats the big debate that will be ongoing over the next few months, and hopefully we'll be able to cover a lot of it and reflect the views of the local community here on Visit Scunthorpe. I'm hoping that candidates and agents of all political persuasions will get in touch and share with us their hopes, aspirations and manifestos in the run up to the election. If we get interest from either candidates or readers then we will set up an Elections 2010 section dedicated to this. As always this will be anone partisan approach so any political view or comment is welcome. And finally a few predictions about the election: 1 - The local college will be needing a new principal 2 - Whitechappel Anarchists will hold their 1st "Tories Out" rally on the 7th May 2010. 3 - Thoades will be spoiling his ballot paper.