Why Maria Hutchings is the Tories' Sarah Palin - and that's not a good thing
The Conservative candidate in the Eastleigh by-election won't woo the middle ground
Let's be clear. MariaHutchings, Conservative candidate for Eastleigh , is not the Tory party's Sarah Palin.
I know this because she told me so. "I'm the Tory party's MariaHutchings," she says assertively.
I'm not convinced. Right wing American governor Sarah Palin is famous for plain speaking. MariaHutchingsalso doesn't like to pull her punches.
Or if she does, it's when she's pulling them into the midriff of vulnerable asylum seekers: "I don't care about refugees," she once said.
Sarah Palin styles herself a "hockey mom".Hutchingsis a "cardio-respiratory surgeon's mum" - or she'd like to be.
She's not sending her son to a state school as it would be "impossible" to get the right sort of education , she claims.
Stunt Sarah Palin was famously whisked away from the prying eyes of the press after a series of disastrous media performances.
And on the day I was in Eastleigh,Hutchingsfaced her own accusations of running from the spotlight.
Voters who arrived at a hustings were surp! rised to find she'd drafted in a stunt double , in the form of George Hollingbery, Tory MP for Meon Valley.
To be fair, I didn't have too much trouble arranging an interview. And face to face, she's actually quite impressive: on message, speaking with passion about another son's fight with autism and communicating a steely determination.
And while Sarah Palin admitted never reading a paper, the Tory Palin defiantly claimed that, while she read them, the wave of criticism engulfing her campaign wasn't fazing her.
But standing in a cul-de-sac in what would be her constituency, one thing becomes clear. MariaHutchingsis a core candidate in a by-election where there aren't enough core votes.
This is Lib Dem territory. Eastleigh is affluent but relatively genteel. There are not waves of asylum seekers marauding through the central market place. Nor crowds of angry students raging against Nick Clegg's tuition fee betrayal.
Hutchingsis a candidate your send 'em back, string 'em up, whack 'em with a bedroom tax Tory voter could embrace. But what she needs to be - what David Cameron desperately needs - is someone who could reach out beyond that traditional support to woo middle Eastleigh.
There are places where her call to blast rioters with indelible paint will go down a storm. But in Eastleigh they're more concerned about keeping the bandstand shipshape.
And when you look into her eyes, you sense she knows it.
One day she will get into Parliament, where her directness will provide a refreshing contrast to the sterile discourse that passes for modern political debate. But it won't be next Friday.
Hutchingsdenies she is the Tories' Sarah Palin. Unfortunately for! Cameron ! - and for herself - she is.
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