The Newcastle Journal's political editor William Green looks at how the North East could hold the key to the general election.
If David Cameron wants his own piece of heaven on earth, he should look to the North East.
His big, big hope is the Conservatives winning Sunderland Central.
It's a new seat carved from rock solid Labour heartlands.
Local candidate Lee Martin has been called a "star" by his party leader, and points to the Tories taking five of nine council seats at the last local elections.
News of success is likely to come early on election night, with Sunderland Council priding itself on quick-fast counting.
Of course, a general election is a very different kettle of fish from local elections, and it is a ‘huge ask' to win the seat.
The North East offers relatively thin pickings for Mr Cameron, although party chiefs are confident they can build on the one seat – Hexham – they currently hold.
Hopes are focused on Tynemouth after the party captured the elected North Tyneside mayoralty.
Stockton South is another Tory target, while there is talk about taking Berwick and one of the Middlesbrough seats, amid anger about the local Corus steel plant closing.
Mr Cameron has declared his party must win North East seats to form the next government, although de facto deputy William Hague suggests otherwise.
Mr Hague's campaigning will focus on Lancashire and West Yorkshire and he has indicated the Tories don't need the North East to win power.
"Statistically, you can win a parliamentary majority in one half of the country," said Mr Hague. But he promised a "strong" Northern voice in any Tory government.
That is good news for Tynemouth candidate Wendy Morton, a businesswoman and potentially the Tories' only woman MP from the North East.
Hexham counterpart Guy Opperman is almost certain to become an MP and could become well known in Parliament after a career as a campaigning barrister.
Former North East MP Michael Bates could become a minister, after being put forward as a peer by Mr Cameron. Another reason is that Lord Bates has ministerial experience.
But Labour is likely to have the largest number of MPs, with the region having a long collective memory about the death of traditional industries under the Tories.
Thanks to a clearout of its worst expenses/lobbying ‘sinners', Labour offers a far more feminine line-up of candidates, with all-women shortlists ordered in winnable seats.
Prominent is Chi Onwurah, an engineer by training, who is in line to become MP for Newcastle Central. Energy secretary Ed Miliband recently supported a recent fundraising effort.
She would represent the North East's changing face as its first black woman MP.
Recent announcements on Nissan building electric cars and development of offshore wind power could provide a shot in the arm to Labour.
Gordon Brown has claimed they would have been impossible without government financial support, although Tory big beast Ken Clarke accuses him of electioneering.
The North East also provides the players for a Labour civil war, if Gordon Brown loses the election and falls on his sword.
Could foreign secretary David Miliband, MP for South Shields, go for the crown after years of stalling?
And what role would Newcastle East and Wallsend MP Nick Brown, chief whip and a close ally of the prime minister, play?
For Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, the North East is an important battleground.
They will hope to make a breakthrough by snatching Labour seats – not least because of a potential meltdown in the South West.
Lib Dems may control Newcastle and Northumberland councils, but that has not translated into MPs. Currently, Berwick's Sir Alan Beith is their only MP.
The crunch battle is in Durham City, where Carol Woods is fighting Labour's Roberta Blackman-Woods.
The sitting MP recently sent an email to supporters, pleading for help because Labour was up against it with the Lib Dems.
Efforts are also focusing on Newcastle North, with Ron Beadle hoping to become the city's first Lib Dem MP.
William Green is political editor of the Newcastle Journal.
