Plaid first off the mark on the road to Aberaeron
On the 18 mile journey from Aberystwyth to Aberaeron today I couldn’t resist counting the placards that have sprouted in the last couple of days. The score?
Plaid Cymru - 35
Lib Dems - 8
Conservatives - 4
This contrasts sharply with Brecon & Radnor constituency, thought to be a tight contest between the Tories and Lib Dems, where, on a journey on Wednesday through the northern half, I saw only a couple.
It’s clear that the political scene in Ceredigion is unusually vibrant and this is a feature of seats where Plaid Cymru are strong. Plaid have to work harder on the ground to combat the overwhelming media coverage of the London-based parties and other parties then have to try to up their game to combat that. For example, this year Plaid becomes the first party in Wales to use bus advertising. Penri James, Plaid’s candidate in Ceredigion explains,
“It’s necessary for us in Plaid to continually find new and innovative ways of getting our message across to the communities we represent. This year we’re running our most ambitious Westminster advertising campaign to date.
“We ran a pilot bus advertising campaign in Llanelli last October which proved incredibly successful and received a very positive response from the public. We’ve now rolled this out to towns across Wales including Bangor, Blackwood, Llandudno, Aberystwyth and Cardiff.
“Plaid’s ability to embrace innovation and technology is a well recognised success. In addition to our existing presence on the web on websites, blogs and social networking, we’ll be using internet advertising on sites such as Google to get our message across to as wide an audience as possible.
“All of this will of course supplement our Wales-wide intensive door-to-door campaign. Plaid candidates for the coming election will all be out and about, talking to people in our communities and ensuring that we take the people’s priorities and values with us to Westminster when called upon”.
Plaid Cymru - 35
Lib Dems - 8
Conservatives - 4
This contrasts sharply with Brecon & Radnor constituency, thought to be a tight contest between the Tories and Lib Dems, where, on a journey on Wednesday through the northern half, I saw only a couple.
It’s clear that the political scene in Ceredigion is unusually vibrant and this is a feature of seats where Plaid Cymru are strong. Plaid have to work harder on the ground to combat the overwhelming media coverage of the London-based parties and other parties then have to try to up their game to combat that. For example, this year Plaid becomes the first party in Wales to use bus advertising. Penri James, Plaid’s candidate in Ceredigion explains,
“It’s necessary for us in Plaid to continually find new and innovative ways of getting our message across to the communities we represent. This year we’re running our most ambitious Westminster advertising campaign to date.
“We ran a pilot bus advertising campaign in Llanelli last October which proved incredibly successful and received a very positive response from the public. We’ve now rolled this out to towns across Wales including Bangor, Blackwood, Llandudno, Aberystwyth and Cardiff.
“Plaid’s ability to embrace innovation and technology is a well recognised success. In addition to our existing presence on the web on websites, blogs and social networking, we’ll be using internet advertising on sites such as Google to get our message across to as wide an audience as possible.
“All of this will of course supplement our Wales-wide intensive door-to-door campaign. Plaid candidates for the coming election will all be out and about, talking to people in our communities and ensuring that we take the people’s priorities and values with us to Westminster when called upon”.
