Nick Clegg found himself on the back foot over his party's flagship policy on scrapping tuition fees yesterday but he and Treasury spokesman Vince Cable will attempt to persuade delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth about the collective pain that needs to be felt to bring down the budget deficit.
The row over Tory claims that Labour has secret plans to raise income tax by 3% takes a fresh turn as civil servants wade in.
As Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, rightly points out in his weekly Telegraph column, we are witnessing a competitive "slash-fest" between the three mainstream parties.
Dear Nick Clegg has staggered wild-eyed before us, waving his chainsaw above his head and demanding "deep and savage cuts" in spending.Nick Clegg tried to reassure disgruntled delegates that scrapping tuition fees is still the Lib Dems' long term plan,
The Times reports on former leader Charles Kennedy, who is positioning himself as the voice of the grass roots.
As the party seeks to play to the strength of personalities in the party, the Independent tells us that the Lib Dems will exploit Vince Cable's popularity by giving him a central role in the election campaign and encourage him to stray outside his economics remit.
Over in the Labour camp, the Daily Mail tells us to expect a mini-reshuffle by Gordon Brown with the beleaguered Lady Scotland set to exit government following the matter of her cleaner.
Back in Bournemouth, today's debate includes "getting the truth" about torture, with a repeat of the party's calls for a full and independent inquiry into the facts relating to the involvement or knowledge of the British government on the matter. Then we have a question-and-answer session on crime policy, with panellists including the home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, and Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust.
Andrew Sparrow will be doing a live blog from the Guardian's fringe event entitled: How can we fix politics?, chaired by Simon Hoggart.
