It was the turn of "honest" Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, to launch his party's manifesto yesterday. Honest, because unlike that "illiberal and uncaring" lot in the Labour Party and the "divided" Tories, the Liberal Democrats would not be making over-the-top claims. Charles knew he wouldn't be prime minister on the morning of June 8th.
The Liberal Democrats team turned up almost unexpectedly. The journalists were still chattering and the Liberal Democrats election music, a kind of upbeat Abba medley, was still playing when the chairman of the party's election campaign, Lord Razzall, called the press conference to order.
Wagging his finger, Mr Kennedy told us in his melodic Scottish voice that three simple words summed up what the Liberal Democrats stood for. An expectant pause. "Freedom, justice and honesty," he said, leaning forward to emphasise the point.
The Liberal Democrats were not afraid to admit that Mr Kennedy would not be the next incumbent at No 10, but they were prepared to talk tough.
"We are," Mr Kennedy proudly declared, "not afraid to be honest and ask those who can afford it to pay a small price for a big benefit."
He was not, one imagined, referring to the manifesto, which unfortunately resembled a tabloid-style trade paper along the lines of Supermarket Monthly.
No, the small price was one penny on the basic rate of income tax. The extra money would raise £3.5 billion to pay for more teachers and smaller classes and abolish university tuition fees.
Likewise a new 50 per cent tax on earnings over £100,000 would raise £4.6 billion to employ more nurses and put more beds on the wards.
The veteran parliamentarian, Baroness Shirley Williams, looked on approvingly from the side of the grey-and-yellow platform as Mr Kennedy, highlighted against the Lib Dem backdrop by soft yellow spotlights, joked about tactical voting and the "moral argument" for PR.
In the last election, Liberal Democrats and Labour voters across the country joined forces to squeeze out the Tories, but this time the Liberal Democrats are facing strong opposition from the Conservatives in many of the party's key seats.
Honest Charles wouldn't "condemn or condone" tactical voting. "But it's almost a `do-it-yourself' form of PR," he said, claiming to have created the first election acronym.