 | 'If you look at the by-elections we've won since the 2005 elections, we've had seven games out of 15 fought.' Richard Lochhead MSP, 4 th April 2006. |  |
| 'If you look at the by-elections we've won since the 2005 elections, we've had seven games out of 15 fought.' Richard Lochhead MSP, 4 th April 2006. | |
Campaigning got under way in earnest yesterday in the Moray by-election, as the first blows were traded among the candidates vying for the Holyrood seat left vacant by the death of Margaret Ewing.
Mary Scanlon, who has resigned as the Highlands and Islands list MSP so that she can fight for the constituency seat at Holyrood, launched the Conservative campaign with her sights set on the Nationalists and on attracting tactical votes from Labour and LibDem supporters. The Tory challenger taunted the front-running SNP for being "on the way down".
While both SNP and Tory agree they are in a two-horse race, the Labour campaign was also launched yesterday, with Sandy Keith an Elgin councillor, claiming he can win the seat. He promised he will "sleep outside the door of the minister responsible, if that's what it takes" to get funding for the county's serious flooding problems.
Today, it is the LibDems' turn to launch their campaign, having chosen Linda Gorn, the councillor for Keith and a local shopkeeper.
Although in fourth place at the 2003 election, LibDems hope they can build on the momentum from the Westminster by-election in Dunfermline and West Fife.
In the battle to replace Margaret Ewing, who represented Moray for the SNP for 19 years until her death last month, momentum is key to establishing the pattern of the campaign in its early stages, with the vote on April 27.
Ms Scanlon said of the Nationalist incumbents: "Their biggest weakness is that they're on their way down.
"In 1999, 35 SNP MSPs were elected to the Scottish Parliament. In 2003, there were 27. It's a party that hasn't got a strong message, they're not sure where they're going and there are lots of different beliefs within the party."
A further sign of the Tory tactics is that she declined to criticise Labour or the LibDems, describing herself as a compassionate Conservative, and hoping that those parties' tactical voters will choose to switch to her to defeat the SNP.
Richard Lochhead, the SNP candidate, is also resigning his North East Scotland list seat at Holyrood to fight the by-election and defend his party's 5312 majority. He launched his campaign on Monday, and yesterday hit back at his Conservative challenger.
"If you look at the by-elections we've won since the 2005 elections, we've had seven games out of 15 fought," he said. "If you compare that with the Tory by-election record, you will find we're the people with the momentum."
The Nationalist attacked his main opponent for distributing campaign literature that makes no mention of her being a Conservative, arguing Ms Scanlon's appeal to continue Margaret Ewing's constituency work is motivating the SNP vote.
Ms Scanlon defended her pitch as the true successor to the late MSP. "Margaret was an excellent, hardworking, conscientious, well-respected member of the Scottish Parliament. I've been hard working, conscientious, focused, bringing issues from the Highlands to the Scottish Parliament for seven years.
"She was a Nationalist and I'm a Unionist, but when you're sitting on a group looking at infertility issues or epilepsy, you tend to leave your party hat at the door and concentrate on the issues."
The Labour launch featured many of the same local issues that are being highlighted by Mr Keith's rivals Ð flood prevention measures, the lack of NHS dentistry, upgrading the A96 road between Aberdeen and Inverness and the call for an Elgin bypass, improving train services, the county's low-wage economy. It also highlighted the proposal to merge Elgin's two secondary schools, which was rejected by the council's education committee on Monday and goes to Moray's full council the day after the by-election.
In the 2003 election, Labour's Peter Peacock Ð now the Education Minister Ð was 915 votes behind the Tories, and Linda Gorn came fourth.
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