UK:THE EYES of the world - or at least those of Britain's political class - are on Crewe and Nantwich. And the voters in this previously solid Labour seat are enjoying the attention, writes Frank Millar.
Canny enough to look beyond the media hype, many of the punters know the count declared here in the early hours of Friday morning might not actually foretell the result of the next general election. But they have the equally sharp sense that Gordon Brown and David Cameron now have a lot riding on the outcome.
So what's it to be? Can the "Dunwoody factor" save the day, or at least offer a welcome breathing space for the troubled Labour leader as he approaches his first anniversary in 10 Downing Street?
Or will "the splitters" overturn the late Gwyneth Dunwoody's 7,000 majority and reject her daughter Tamsin as Tony Blair's small "c" conservative chickens come home to roost?
Mr Cameron presumably had them in mind on his way here yesterday, stopping off in Birmingham to combine an attack on Labour's reckless spending of public money with the distinctly Thatcherite promise of a return to good housekeeping under the Tories.
The "New Labour" promise back in 1997 was that it was safe for Conservative voters to ditch John Major for Tony Blair. And in Crewe market yesterday some of those who took that apparently risk-free option were on the verge of switching back.
Rose Smith and Wendy Worth told Mr Cameron they were still undecided. But as he moved on they told The Irish Times that, like Blair, they thought Mr Cameron was dynamic and had charisma. And yes, when pressed, they would probably go back to the Conservatives on Thursday.
Kahmer Ahmed had earlier said he also thought "change" was in the air, suggesting "the war" was no longer an issue and confirming that other members of his mosque had been impressed when Mr Cameron and Conservative candidate Edward Timpson had come to call.
It didn't take long to establish, however, that scrapping the 10p tax rate remains an issue despite last week's £2.7 billion mini-budget compensation package. May and David Lomax have "always been Labour", but not this time - calculating that they will still be £108 a year worse off as a result of then chancellor Gordon Brown's attempt to steal a march on the Tories and show himself a tax-cutter.
"I'm voting Tory, I'd do it if it was Mickey Mouse," vowed Mr Lomax, as his wife confirmed: "It's about giving him (Brown) a message."
For Glyn (who wouldn't give his surname) the 10p issue had become shorthand for "the stealth taxes, a lot of things really". His father had always warned him that no good would come of voting Labour, although he hadn't yet decided between the Tory and Liberal Democrat alternatives.
It isn't all bad news for Mr Brown. Bohdan Panczyszyn thought Tamsin Dunwoody "might just pip it" for Labour. Valerie Daniels had likewise admired the former MP and was sticking with her daughter.
Former British Rail workers Denis Bodington and John Jones could also, just, be counted among Labour's reliable core vote. "But I don't think they're going to win it," offered Mr Jones, as both lamented Mr Brown's handling of the 10p tax issue and the state of Britain's pensions.
"He's trying to make amends now," said Mr Bodington, adding: "But we'll not get it anyway."
The comfort for Mr Brown was that these longstanding Labour voters thought the prime minister had inherited a lot that wasn't his fault.
The bad news, in Mr Bodington's words: "It's just that he's not a natural leader, especially to the ladies."
As Mr Cameron did Stoke Radio before shopping for more votes, this time in Asda, Eric Pickles MP, who is driving his party's bid for a first byelection gain from Labour in 30 years, was wisely taking nothing for granted.
At the other end of the street, however, Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes confirmed his view that Labour had already "thrown it away".
While equally wisely conceding nothing, one had the feeling that a second place behind the Conservatives and ahead of Labour would be counted a good enough night for the Lib Dems too.