"ABSOLUTE garbage," barked a senior Liberal Democrat insider when it was politely suggested the party, in the face of truly dreadful opinion polls, was heading towards electoral oblivion on May 7.
"We will defy the pundits and do much better than the pollsters are saying. This is a fundamentally optimistic party. Got it," he declared as Lib Dem activists huddled by a cold, windswept Mersey.
Perhaps though, he protesteth too much. Because beneath the natural upbeat outlook of the yellow peril is a rabbit-like dread that the giant political juggernaut seemingly heading their way will hit the party so hard that it will set the squished Lib Dem cause back a generation.
Ex-party President Tim Farron suggested as much and put the reason down to Nick Clegg's decision five years ago to get into political bed with David Cameron; his frankness earned the Cumbrian MP a dressing down from none other than Lord Special Forces Ashdown.
The Lib Dem pitch - set out passionately by the party leader yesterday - of the party providing the Coalition's good cop to the Tories' bad cop does not appear to be working with Joe Public and time is running out.
One senior figure is pinning his hopes on the incumbency factor, particularly in Scotland, where if anything the polls are worse than they are across the rest of Britain. The consensus, however, seems to be "it's looking bad for Danny".
As the party faces the Nationalist challenge, Mr Clegg made it crystal clear any post-poll deal with the SNP was "just not going to happen".
Yet as the Lib Dems turn their faces away from the horrible poll ratings, holding their heads high as they walk through the storm, it has to be said that the golden sky is looking a long way off.
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