Tomos Livingstone, political editor of The Western Mail, considers the 2010 general election in Wales.
This will be the most open general election Wales has seen for a generation – the years when Labour won most of the seats and the other parties scrabbled for the scraps are over.
More constituencies are in play this time around than at any contest since 1992.
This is partly as a result of Labour's steady decline in its heartlands, partly as a result of the Conservatives' long march back towards credibility with Welsh voters and partly the resilience of Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats in pockets of the country.
Wales has changed since 1997, when Labour won 34 of the 40 seats on offer; demographic shifts mean parts of the M4 and A55 corridors, at least, are more prosperous and certainly less tribal than once they were.
Devolution meanwhile has created a more complex political picture and allowed non-Labour political voices to be amplified.
Just like everywhere else, the expenses scandal and the economy will be the twin themes of the campaign.
Wales, with its heavy dependence on manufacturing and public sector jobs, has been hard hit by the downturn – thousands of the former have already disappeared, and with the headlines dominated by talk of spending cuts, the latter are either waiting nervously or taking to the picket lines.
For Wales' political leaders, these are testing times; the first minister, Carwyn Jones, took over from Rhodri Morgan in December, and although he isn't, of course, a candidate in the general election, any further depression in Labour's vote will heap the pressure on him.
Plaid Cymru face the voters having entered a coalition with Labour in the Assembly; few in the party now argue that decision was a mistake, but Plaid face the same challenge as they did in 2001 and 2005 – how to convince voters of their relevance at a Westminster election.
The Conservatives go into the election in buoyant mood – although not quite so buoyant as they were a year ago, when they topped the poll at the European elections.
Nevertheless the party is well placed to increase its tally of three Welsh MPs to eight or even 10.
David Cameron – a frequent visitor to Welsh marginals - knows how important those numbers are: with Scotland still looking like barren territory, he needs to do all he can to counter the Tories' image as an 'English' party.
The Liberal Democrats also have a young, relatively new Welsh leader in Kirsty Williams, and although she has no plans to head to Westminster, she'll play a prominent role in the campaign – and take the flak if the party fails to add to its four Welsh seats.
The map is covered in fascinating individual contests – there are straight Labour-Conservative marginals in Cardiff North and the Vale of Glamorgan: fall short here and Mr Cameron might as well give up hope of being prime minister.
On a good night he'll hope to pick up a seat from Labour in north-east Wales too: Delyn maybe, or Clwyd South.
A livelier version of the same fight will take place in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, where Labour is defending a 1,910 majority.
The Conservative candidate is Simon Hart, the chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, and if the hunting ban is going to be an issue anywhere, it's here.
Other seats to keep an eye on include Ceredigion, where the Liberal Democrats have a majority of just 219 over Plaid Cymru, and the ever-idiosyncratic Ynys Mon, where Labour believe they can defend a 1,242 majority in the face of threats from Plaid, the Conservatives and – if past form is anything to go by – some colourful independents.
In Montgomeryshire there should be an entertaining contest between never-far-from-the-headlines MP Lembit Opik and his Conservative challenger, the popular former AM Glyn Davies.
In Llanelli Plaid are hoping for a big symbolic breakthrough by taking the seat from Labour – the arithmetic might be against them though, at least this time around.
And the new seat of Aberconwy offers the intriguing prospect of a straight Plaid-Conservative fight; added spice comes from the fact that Guto Bebb, the Tory candidate, is a former Plaid member whose grandfather was one of the party's founders.
With a clutch of MPs retiring, the Welsh delegation at Westminster will be much-changed on May 7, whatever happens at the polls.
Names to watch include the highly-rated Owen Smith, standing in the safe Labour seat of Pontypridd, and former Conservative minister Jonathan Evans, hoping to be back in the Commons after a 13-year absence.
Tomos Livingstone is political editor of the Western Mail.
