One hour or so ago the two politicans I probably disliked the most in the world were Nick Clegg and Sarah Teather.
I saw Nick Clegg just made a speech that he was probably advised against making. It may have been better for his party to stay quiet for a day, to have a rest and let Brown and Cameron stew, to play the uncertainty of the situation to get whatever he could. To convienently forget what he'd said before the election about working with the party that has the largest mandate.
He fought an election under a system that he doesn't like. He did poorly in this election in terms of getting less of a share of the vote that was expected of him and he acknowledged this.
The quirks of the voting system have given him an advantage and a disadvantage. He's lost seats, but his position as kingmaker, and Brown having the first chance to make him an offer, gives his party more power than they've ever had before.
Having felt the rough edge of one of the quirks and losing seats, he would have been well within his rights to use another quirk to gain power and massive amounts of negotiating leverage.
instead he stood up, probably before he knew what was on the table, and said he's a man of his word, he'll work with Cameron before he works with Brown. It swerves the whole constitutional question, Brown cannot form a government without Clegg's help. He's basically said, no thankyou whatever Brown, I'm off to see Cameron first.
Might get less than he's hoping for now, a lot less, but it means this situation will likely be sorted out in days rather than weeks. Good for the markets, good for the country, bad for his party.
Then Sarah Teather won her seat and it was a tough fight. We're told by the beeb that she could have gone to a safer seat, but she chose to fight the harder one.
I'm not an instant convert, but my least favourite politicians in my least favourite party have just demonstrated that their priorities go Country before Party before Self. It's not like I'm suddenly a LibDem, but I've got some respect for two people I wanted to hit with a shovel an hour ago.
I find it inspiring that so many seats were decided by less than 200 votes from really high turnouts. Some of them rock hard safe seats. We're all told our vote is wasted but people refused to believe this and turned up and made a difference.
I find it inspiring that although the pollsters got things right on a national scale, the swing was far from uniform with only the marginals changing hands. It was the activists on the ground working their butts off making the difference rather than just the TV debates and the bigot gaffes and the newspaper endorsements. Labour held Birmingham Edgbaston but nearly lost Ashfield. The LibDems lost Montgomeryshire but took seats of the Conservatives.
I find it inspiring that in a country that the media would have us believe is increasingly xenophobic and racist, no UKIP or BNP candidate came close to winning a seat.
At the same time the Greens have made a historic first gain and now have representation in the House.
David Cameron said that he wasn't going to do what Tony Blair did in '97 and keep fighting a general election 3 years after he's won it. I think he's going to "roll up his sleeves" work with Nick. I can't explain why I believe him.
It really is an age of austerity that's on the way, there does need to be cuts and stuff. I can't explain why I feel so optimistic.
I really can't explain why I believe politicians today and not the news media. Maybe it's because I've followed this campaign closely and at so many junctures what everyone assumed to be the case... turned out not to be the case.
I really hope David Cameron says something at 2.30pm that makes us think that he'll give Nick Clegg his due and that they can work together. If he spouts only party political blarb and disses Brown then he can gtfo.
I can't explain why I think this election has been a good thing for British democracy, but I've done my best.
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