Things that don’t get mentioned at Lib Dem leadership hustings

The advantage of sitting through and watching far too many leadership hustings is seeing the common patterns. One of which is about what (usually) does not get mentioned.

The economy for one thing.

Or the people most likely to vote. Both Tim Farron and Norman Lamb regularly talk of a need to enthuse young people (record of voting at elections: low). But not about any need to win over pensioners (record of voting at elections: high).

Or the strategic dilemma the party faces about how much to talk about the past, something which is one of the party’s most important decisions to make in this Parliament and where the die for the rest of the Parliament will most likely be set by Christmas, just as for Labour in the last Parliament things were set firmly in the public’s mind by Christmas 2010.

So if you are going to one of the offline or online hustings to come, there are three ideas of things to ask.

Keep up with news on the Lib Dem leadership race

• Sign up for Liberal Democrat Newswire here, and
• Sign up for the Facebook event for the contest (where Norman Lamb and Tim Farron are regularly answering questions from members).