The way for Ken to deal with the age question is to say that he will seek only one term – even better would be to offer Oona the Deputy Mayoralty (yes, I know there’s no such post) after he’s won the election.

I’m interested about the supposed LBC bias (I thought only taxi-drivers listened to it, though, don’t know anyone who does myself). Aren’t broadcast media supposed to be politically neutral? Or has the governement abolished the quango that deals with that?

Two other considerations…

A lot of people in London don’t have any memory of Ken’s “glorious” fights against the cuts in the 1980s because they are too young, and evoking that era doesn’t exactly bring back strong warm feelings about a successful Labour party and movement.

When canvassing for the Greens (i.e. the Sian 1, Ken 2nd pref ticket) loads of people simply said they were fed up of Ken, didn’t like the sleaze and liked Boris. I doubt that has changed very much in the past few years — only those closely following London politics and strongly partisan lefties are fed up with the Boris act.

Ken’s biggest challenge is surely to appear likeable and fresh.

I seem to remember that the Labour campaign against Boris was based on two points: that he was a hopelessly incompetent buffoon, and that he was a roaring Tebbitite right-winger.

The first of these is debatable at best – there really are no glaring examples of mayoral incompetence that have gained any traction in London, and the most high-visibility Boris initiative, the bike scheme, has got off to a pretty good start. The second of these was always moronic in the extreme, because Boris is and was so obviously a centrist.

Livingstone himself proved that it’s not enough for the governing party to be unpopular, so what is the specific anti-Boris line going to be? We’re not going to have to go back to those sodding watermelon smiles are we?

Number 3 is certainly the sticking point. KL is well within his mayoral powers to appoint whoever he likes, and is entitled not to disclose anything until re-election, but…it doesn’t sound too good for anyone hoping for a rejuvenated politics in London, and I am a KL voter, not an LBC fan.

Unless Johnson royally screws up in the next few years, he will be a tough one to beat as he keeps his distance from Cameron. Ken’s supposed grassroots touch was over-estimated last time around and I wonder if there is some generational shift going on. I hope KL could come forward and announce his mayoral team before the campaign, prove that a third term would be different. And don’t ignore the voters living in zones 5 & 6.

It would be good to see some polling on this.

I don’t think it will be easy for Ken – Boris is a formidable candidate. But last time the national situation was dire for Ken and in 2012 the national situation will be dire for Boris. That should shift at least 3% of voters.

It was also Ken’s campaign team which led on the 2010 campaign in London, which was pretty successful.

I hope Lee Jasper gets back in City Hall with Ken.

Because his politics needs to be laid to rest once and for all before we can crack the problems facing London’s black kids.

The last thing Ken’s team needs, or London needs, is a return of the Socialist Action clique that ran the show during his two terms.

Wait a minute….I thought that this was just a Gilligan/ES/evil Tory talking point.

Now you tell me it was true all along??!!

PS if this clique is the last thing London needs why did you support KL last time?

We could have a mayoral election that is based around who supports Ed Balls the most

Boris saw off Ken already, I honestly don’t think there’s anything Ken can do to convince Londoners that voted for Boris last time to vote for Ken next time.

If the London media really do have money to spend on polls this far out, the most useful one might be:

“When considering how you will vote in the Mayoral election in 2012, which will be more important for you – to express an opinion on the national government, or on the candidates themselves?”

If it wasn’t for gut anti-Tory voting, Labour might be pushed to win a single ward!

The first of these is debatable at best – there really are no glaring examples of mayoral incompetence that have gained any traction in London,

That’s mostly because he hasn’t done much.

It’s a shame that, I guess because of the leadership contest, the mayoral candidates haven’t had much high profile scrutiny.
My hunch is that if the candidates had been seen side by side more often, Oona would have won a heck of a lot more support.

Ken’s “I Oppose Tory Cuts” message might be simple, strong and direct but it really isn’t good enough.
Oona’s proposals might not have set the world alight, but they are creative and constructive. And, crucially, she’s a fresh proposition for the electorate.

I can’t see anyone who didn’t vote for Ken last time voting for Ken this time.
I’d be happy to stuff envelopes for Ken. I like Ken, you probably like Ken, but lots of people – especially in the suburbs- don’t. It’s “anyone but Ken” for these people. They had two terms, and decided they’d rather have that posh bloke off Have I Got News For You.
Which of them will have changed their minds? Especially if our proposition for the electorate is- “here’s dear old Ken singing his favourite tune- I Oppose Tory Cuts!”.

If we pick Ken, I fear that the country will roll its eyes and say, “There they go again, look”.

“First, I think Oona King has been quite unfairly tagged by some as a ‘New Labour clone‘. She never was.”

I wouldn’t agree with calling anyone a clone (rather dehumanising), but in policy terms, is there any evidence for that at all Sunny?

Tom – how do you mean?

I don’t think Oona has more of a chance to win against Boris than Ken does.

1) LBC and the ES will always back Boris against a Labour candidate
2) Oona lost her seat to Galloway because she was prone to supporting the government when her constituents needed her to steel herself to criticise them. It was to her detriment that she overlooked that need and that’s why she’s a worse prospect than Ken, her negatives are as high as Ken’s. I suspect they’re higher.
3) Gilligan will run that campaign with or without evidence.

We’ll see what happens but if it’s worth anything I think you made the right choice.

Oh look, as Sunny has tweeted this lonk overnight, Ken IS still the same!

“Livingstone: Al-Qaradawi is a “leading progressive voice” in Muslim world”

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/09/livingstone-al-qaradawi-is-a-leading-progressive-voice-in-muslim-world/

@15

I don’t think that Oona lost to Galloway because she was too reluctant to criticise the government. That’s too simplistic.
Being forced into fighting virtually a single issue campaign made winning virtually impossible- she was part of a government with a hugely unpopular (locally) policy up against a tub thumper who knew that the community were with him on the matter.

But just as importantly, it was one of the dirtiest campaigns ever fought. “Oona King plans to ban Halal meat”, anyone? Awful stuff. You can’t draw too many conclusions based on that election. It was a very specific situation.

And if the ES and LBC will “always” back the Tory candidate against the Labour one, then Ken’s in no better position than Oona is he? So we come back to the original point; what’s our proposition to the voters? The guy you voted out last time, who’s now pushing 70, and seems keen on using the mayoralty as a platform for opposing government cuts? Or a fresh new candidate with constructive, creative ideas?

As for Oona being a “New Labour Clone”- it’s a completely unfair description of her. I think it’s a hangover from the way Galloway fought his campaign- he painted himself as the “real Labour” candidate versus the “New Labour” candidate.
Oona is far from a Blairite clone.
Would a Blairite clone be backing Ed Miliband?

The Mayoral nomination is even more of a personality contest than the leadership – there is no obvious policy difference between Livingstone and King, it just comes down to identity politics and the perpetuation of the Stop-Ken brigade, a lingering and increasingly arcane remnant of the intra-Labour conflict of the 1980s (as evidenced by the bizarre emergence of Neil Kinnock at the start of the campaign – a retired, Welsh politican putting himself forward as the main supporter of one of the two candidates in a local London election, can only be because this is his last chance to try to prove himself over Livingstone).

I’m interested about the supposed LBC bias …

Yeah, not least ‘cos Ken Livingstone has his own show on the network. If they really wanted to do him down, they wouldn’t need to commission iffy opinion polls, they’d just fire him.

@17 My argument wasn’t that Ken was in a better position, just that most of Sunny’s arguments applied to any Labour candidate in terms of media opposition.

Although I take your points about the Tower Hamlets campaign on board and agree that I was being too blase I disagree with you about Oona King. Screw whether she’s a Blairite or not, she voted very strongly for stricter asylum, foundation hospitals, ID cards, top up fees. She rebelled on House of Lords reform and members pay. That’s why people like me think she’s a neo-liberal because when she said no it was always a structural issue rather than because she believed something was wrong. Everyone thinks something is wrong sometimes so either I think her judgement is off or I assume she had no guts. Either way that’s not my London Mayor.