No matter how you look at it, the focus on the 2008 general elections is on the two leaders of the big parties. It is Gonzi vs Sant. 
The Nationalist Party knows that Gonzi and Sant are their major assets. Gonzi inspires trust in the people – at least that is what the surveys show – and Sant does not. 
It is no surprise therefore that the PN is focusing all its energy on Gonzi even equating him to the Nationalist Party by the slogan ‘gonzipn’ sending the message that they have the right person at the helm, ignoring the team that was so exposed in the previous general elections. 
But if you may recall, the issue in 2003 was the teamwork around the PN in contrast to the division within Labour about the EU membership issue.
Now the tide has turned and teamwork has been put aside for this year’s general elections to be replaced by Gonzi’s leadership as opposed to Sant’s leadership. The team surrounding Gonzi is no longer the focus of the campaign; they are not needed this time and the more people forget about them, the better. The focus is on how Gonzi is the right man at the right time. I will not be surprised if the Nationalists are saving the best for last, and will strike their strongest blow against Sant’s leadership towards the end of the campaign.
However, the Malta Labour Party, and rightly so, is focusing more on teamwork now that the naughty ones like yours truly have been silenced, and on corruption. Sant knows that he can count on his team because there is nothing that any member of his team can do without him.  He also knows that it is do or die for him this time, and has to work harder to convince the floaters that he can be trusted and can govern this country.
A lot depends on him and the media will be keeping a constant vigil on every word that comes out of his mouth until March 8, because even if the polls may be giving Labour the lead at this time, polls can be very moody and they can fluctuate many times until polling day.  Sant has a greater responsibility than Gonzi in these elections: for the fourth time now he has been assigned the responsibility to lead Labour to victory and; if he fails for the third consecutive time, than he must have the guts to put the interests of the party before everything and call it quits.
 Of course, the Nationalists are just as happy as the Labourites with Sant. If this is the fourth general election for Sant as leader of his party, this is the first for Gonzi as leader of the Nationalist Party. So far, Gonzi has failed in the minor elections of the local councils and the Euro Parliament and this is his first big test.  It is no wonder therefore that the focus will be on him as a breath of fresh air against Sant who has been there for quite some time but who has failed, except for 20 months, to lead Labour to Castille.
 The media will have a pivotal role in these elections and both leaders must make sure that they do not shun the media. I think that both Gonzi and Sant have made the same mistake lately by picking and choosing from the journalists and I do not see they should do so.  A leader who knows his stuff and who puts the party before himself can never afford to discriminate between members of the media; on the contrary he must be extra nice to those whom he knows are there ready to stab him in the back. If any leader is not capable of handling these petty local situations, how on earth is he going to be able to tackle much more complicated situations abroad? 
A leader must always keep in mind that he is never there representing himself but he is the personification of his party and his party people. If, for the sake of the party, he has to start liking patata l-forn, he has to eat patata l-forn, no matter what, because that is what is requested of him for the good of the party. In this campaign, we shall be keeping a watchful eye to see to what extent the leaders will continue to make the separation between the self and the party distinct. 
 This newspaper revealed last week that the people trust Gonzi more than Sant, although Labour is in front of the Nationalist Party according to the survey. What ought to worry the Labour Party is the fact that notwithstanding corruption, squandering of public money, imposition of taxes, surcharge and hundred and one other things that Labour mentions to belittle its opposition, the people still continue to trust Gonzi and not Sant.
 The question of trust shall be a major issue in these elections and I must admit that a lot of progress has been done by the Malta Labour Party in that Sant is no longer evasive in his replies and in his programme, but is now bound by a programme and its time limits. 
The outcome depends a lot of what he will say from now till 8 March because the floaters command the situation and they decide on Election Day. How the floaters are to trust Sant and not Gonzi is something for Sant and his entourage to decide, and they must do it fast.
 I do not agree that the voters will be deciding on “Pjan ghal Bidu Gdid” or on “Flimkien Kollox Possibbli”. Little do the voters care about these catchwords: voters will decide on whom to trust with the mandate.  Shall they trust Gonzi who has burdened them with so much taxes but who now says that he will be alleviate such burden? Or shall they trust Sant who betrayed his own people in 1996 when he did not deliver what he promised?
 Propaganda is what is in store for us in the coming four weeks: there is no doubt that the media spin is stronger at Pieta’ than at Hamrun and what I consider a major fault in the two parties is that they tend to continue to preach to the converted when they should focus their preaching to the floaters. We read that 100,000 of those eligible to vote shall be youths. We know that many floaters are still waiting for answers: answers about the Malta Shipyards after l January 2008; answers about the cost of living after next month’s answers about the shortage of medicine, and many more. 
 Propaganda must not be focused on the faithful and the more exposure that the parties get on these so-called independent press and by “independent opinion writers” the better because oddly enough, these are the kind of mechanisms that attract the floaters.
We cannot not mention the other two political parties, and it will be interesting to note if the floaters will give them a chance this time.
We have to wait and see!