"The Tories are back"

I have all sorts of minor gripes about the new Tory leadership but these are truly minor in comparison to the intelligent strategy being deployed by Cameron et al. This news, from this morning's Grauniad, merely confirms it's working. Some are sceptical and believe this is no more of a bounce than that received by Michael Howard; I shall look forward to reminding them of this in future months. There is a long way left to go but you cannot deny that Cameron, for good or ill, has injected something new into the political process. Surely those who ignore it are destined to be left behind?

James Graham is also critical of the Tory desire to tackle the inner cities and aim to recapture them. One commenters says that:

"The idea that the Tories are now going to target inner cities borders on the absurd. (1) They are way behind in most inner urban areas; (2) their activists are simply not interested in “pavement politics”; and (3) they do not need a single inner city seat to win the next General Election.

I think Mr Cameron’s Washington puppet-masters will be reading out the riot act. It would be like Charles Kennedy telling Liberal Democrat activists to go and fight Labour in the South Wales Valleys, or the Tories in Beaconsfield or Kensington & Chelsea. Far better to put resources into places where we actually can win."

Whether or not he is a Tory remains open to doubt. I am happy to be expressly critical of this commenters' line of thinking though. The Conservative strategy is actually ingenious and Danny Finkelstein - Cameron's ideas' man - knows this. Bush didn't target Hispanic voters and even address them in Spanish because they were the key swing vote he needed to win the 2000 Presidential election. He didn't even have great prospects of getting their vote. Instead he knew that the key voters he did need would be more likely to back a candidate who was sympathetic towards Hispanic voters and made the right overtures towards them. In making speeches to Hispanics he was actually speaking to and pitching for moderate "Middle America". He was trying to send a message that he was like the voters. In appearing to pitch for the inner cities, Cameron is getting his feet under dinner tables across the line. Scoff Lib Dems...and then wonder what you missed.