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I wasn't at the SDLP manifesto launch as, since Inside Politics moved to Sundays, Wednesdays are my sabbath. But I am reliably informed by my colleague Martina Purdy that it was a "men in white suits" occasion. Not that anyone came to take Margaret Ritchie or any of her colleagues away, more that the politicians and hacks had to don protective white suits to make their way through the print factory which the party had picked as a venue.

As detailed elsewhere on the the SDLP set similar emphasis to the DUP on cutting corporation tax. With the Conservatives and Unionists also setting great store by this, will the calls for a reduction become any more of a reality on the other side of the election or will they be dashed on the same rocks as encountered at the time of the

Tomorrow night sees the first local leader's election debate on UTV - it will be interesting to see how the leaders line up as one source suggested to a colleague that the SDLP did not want nationalists on one side and unionists on the other, whilst both unionists wanted to be next to Margaret Ritchie rather than Gerry Adams. Not sure how this has been resolved. The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú debate will be two days before the polls open.

Best quote of the day came from Gerry Adams, speaking to Mark Carruthers on Good Morning Ulster. He claimed that Gerry Kelly's maxim, when canvassing with colleagues, was "you kiss the babies, I'll kiss the mummies".

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