The tip-off regarding what kind of an election was at hand occurred after the first of three debates involving the leaders of the three parties in the British election.

It should not have been a surprise in view of current uncertainties that Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg was the perceived winner of the encounter.  The result was an upward poll tick for the party that was perceived by many to be the real architect for change.

An analysis of poll results indicated that Clegg secured significant support from previously apathetic voters who felt that they had been left out of the system.  This is understandable, as exemplified by a saying from the American south:  "I don't have a dog in this hunt."

Clegg made a special appeal to those disgusted with years of being governed by either Labour or the Conservatives.  He asserted that his party was the true agent of change and that the Liberal Democrats could take Britain into a new direction after years of government led by Labour or the Tories.

Thursday night's second major candidates' debate at Bristol provided a lively one hour and thirty-one minute exchange of the issues as Labour Party Prime Minister Gordon Brown focused verbal guns on Conservative leader David Cameron.

Seeking to look ministerial and adopting a strategy of "I am already working on this" in his role of incumbent, Brown attacked Cameron on the Tory position on health care policy in asserting that the Conservatives plan to make cuts in the National Health Service budget.

This attack was carried forward at a Northhamptonshire rally on Saturday.  Meanwhile Cameron and his party responded in the manner that the Tory prime ministerial aspirant had on Thursday in Bristol, calling the charge a "scare tactic" and arguing that it spoke of desperation from a party falling behind.

While Brown on Thursday night revealed himself as someone not exciting and charismatic but experienced, well informed, and capable of confronting Britain's problems, Labour generated a note of excitement at the Saturday rally by having an Elvis impersonator perform, tackling a rendition of "The Wonder of You."

After Liberal Democrats' leader Nick Clegg's successful appearance in the first candidates' debate earlier this week in the British National Election campaign, some sources began comparing him to Barack Obama and the message for hope that he delivered in winning the 2008 presidential election.

In a paradigm analysis the comparison between the youthful and highly articulate Lib Dem leader and John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential election over Richard M. Nixon may be more accurate.  

Senator Kennedy as the race's underdog surged to victory based on his telegenic edge over Vice President Nixon, who unwisely spurned the advice of  Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower to pass up the debates, which gave the youthful Democratic nominee a chance to showcase his platform for change to a national audience getting acquainted with him for the first time.

In the case of Nixon, who was actually only four years older than the more youthful appearing Kennedy, he had become internationally known as Eisenhower's vice president.  Nixon had received vast international media attention for his "Kitchen Debate" with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow just one year earlier.  

Elections are often decided by the most unforeseeable consequences and this could be the case with the current British National Election.

The classic case of an intervening circumstance propelling a "rally round the flag" factor and assisting an incumbent mightily occurred in the 1956 U.S. presidential election.  Underdog Democratic Party nominee Adlai Stevenson had cut to within 10 points against incumbent Republican President Dwight Eisenhower.

Just as Stevenson's momentum was at its most impressive peak as his party mounted a shrewd "bread and butter" issues campaign against an Eisenhower Administration it argued was too close to big business and not close enough to the American midstream, an event totally unsanctioned by Eisenhower occurred abroad that provided him with sufficient momentum to secure a landslide re-election in both the popular and Electoral College voting categories.

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion allied himself with British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and French Premier Guy Mollet to launch the Suez War against President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.  Eisenhower became infuriated and used U.S. power and influence to terminate the joint enterprise.