The Leaders’ TV debates are distorting this election.

The journalists and commentators from the national press simply love them. They are high drama, always with the possibility of something unpredictable happening. And they are different. New.

This focus on the debates, to the exclusion of everything else, suggests the Leader is all powerful. That he can shape events and determine outcomes. Steady on! It is not quite so simple.

This morning’s papers are full of talk of coalitions and who is cosying up to whom.

We are told that Nick Clegg wouldn’t prop up Broon. And that Clegg could cut a deal with Cameron if the electoral arithmetic so determined.

What fantasy.

A Con-Lib coalition or other arrangement wouldn’t survive a weekend.

Here in Pendle, the brittle and humourless local councillor and peer, Tony Greaves, would throw his sandals at Clegg rather than be tainted by association with the Conservatives.

He loathes the Conservatives more than Labour. And that is saying something.

Cameron has his own problems. Lurking in the wings are the Europhobes with their foam flecked lips, ready to make their own demands in the event of a Conservative win.

In the House of Commons, MPs each have one vote. There isn’t a special weighting for Leaders.

Yet.