From PM to voter - we're in the waiting game
The negotiations continue, but the deal has yet to be done.
And at the moment most of our local politicians, activists - and indeed we the voters - can do is watch and wait.
For now, normal politics also seems to have ground to a halt.
Nick Brown - still for the moment Minister for the North East and Chief Whip - was at his evasive best in the Politics Show today when asked about the PM's future, and rather magnanimous with his rivals.
And indeed Conservative Deputy Chairman Lord Bates and the Berwick MP Sir Alan Beith were also not in the mood to play party politics.
Perhaps that's right at the moment. It is important that the parties find a way of ensuring the nation gets a stable government.
And for that reason, it does look like the game is up for Gordon Brown.
A Lib-Lab pact would not deliver a Commons majority, and a coalition which also brought in assorted nationalists and the one Green MP does not sound like a recipe for stability.
Sir Alan Beith and other Lib Dems have been pointing that out today. They can't close the Labour option altogether but the two most likely scenarios now are a Lib-Con pact, or a Cameron minority government.
The pact may well depend on how far the Tories are prepared to shift on electoral reform.
So far all that's been offered is a discussion by a committee of MPs.
But on the Politics Show today Lord Bates seemed to show more enthusiasm for PR than many of his colleagues.
He pointed out, rightly, that it might actually deliver them more seats in the North East.
Local Lib Dems will be nervous of a deal though.
Take their huge victory in . They - and not the Conservatives - attracted a lot of Labour defectors, but what will the new MP Ian Swales' voters now make of their MP being part of a coalition or pact with David Cameron?
They will need some serious concessions from the Tories to make it worth their while.
As for Labour, if Gordon Brown is going, a leadership contest may be days away.
And the focus will quickly shift to South Shields and David Miliband.
Certainly a contender, but can he convince the Labour party that he can bring them back to power sooner rather than later?
In the meantime, you may have almost forgotten Thursday and Friday's results.
But it's worth remembering that the region does now look different. For the next election we will have far more marginals.
, and are all increasingly tight. And even now looks vulnerable - but to the Conservatives not the Lib Dems.
That's thanks to - interestingly much larger than the national average of 5%.
Worth bearing in mind in case we get another election soon!
For that reason you'll be relieved to know my Election 2010 bag is still alive and well.
A bit like the Shadow Minister for Tyneside Alan Duncan, it's had no profile for the last fortnight (my bag's locked in my car boot but I have no idea where Alan Duncan's been confined to).
But it will be ready for revival if pacts fail and we end up facing an Autumn election.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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