Labour's shock victory in Glenrothes last night may have put "the bounce back into Brown", but it would be wrong to suggest it was due to a Brown bounce.
Just as George Osborne underestimated Peter Mandelson in the Yachtgate affair, so the SNP under estimated the "Jim factor" in this byelection.
As I wrote on this blog exactly four weeks ago, the Labour party had a secret weapon up its sleeve in the form of the new Scottish secretary.
Jim Muphy didn't get where he is today without knowing all there is to know about winning against the odds.
He ousted the Tories from Eastwood, their safest Scottish seat, in 1997 and increased his majority from 3,000 to 9,000 five years later.
With a background in student politics, Murphy is a seasoned, focused, street fighter - and he plays to win. A Catholic MP in a seat with the largest Jewish population in Scotland, a vegetarian who supports a campaign for Stornoway Black Pudding.
In Glenrothes, the SNP accused Labour of running a negative campaign. Murphy claimed Labour was merely highlighting the SNP's record in office.
Labour leaflet after Labour leaflet reflected on a series of budget cuts imposed by the SNP controlled council. They focused on a decision to increase charges for home care for carers and the disabled from £4 a week to £11 an hour.
It is true that the people of Fife may have felt some allegiance to their beleaguered neighbours, Sarah and Gordon Brown. But the genius in persuading the couple to break with tradition and put in personal appearances on the campaign trail was not in the number of votes it swung, but in the ability it gave the party to then link its "surprise" 6,737 majority victory to Gordon Brown.
