High-Riding Blair Battles to the Finish

BRIGHTON, England — The economy is strong, the Conservative opposition has pilloried itself, and even the sun, seldom seen in Britain, is smiling on his campaign. Polls give Prime Minister Tony Blair an overwhelming lead going into Thursday's election, suggesting that his Labor Party will increase its majority in Parliament and, barring a political train wreck, he will be elected to a second term.

And yet the British prime minister is campaigning like a man fighting for survival. In a round-the-clock whirl of interviews, speeches, photo sessions and party rallies, Blair is peddling his new Labor vision with newly unleashed passion.

The Tories do not believe in public investment and a government that looks after the many rather than the few, Blair said repeatedly as he crisscrossed the country, from Brighton in the south Thursday to northern England on Friday, returning to London on Saturday. Britain wants a government that will "run the economy well and work with business but believes in compassion and social justice," he told a rally in the southern town of Croydon.

Blair will not be drawn into discussions about his postelection plans because he will not be seen to take victory for granted.

"We need a mandate for a different set of values and attitudes than those under the Conservative government," Blair told supporters. "We need people's support. We need their strength behind us."

Blair Fears Voters Will Stay at Home

Aware that Labor has never won two consecutive full terms in power, Blair is campaigning against apathy in his own ranks as much as against the opposition Tory and Liberal Democratic parties. He fears that the polls, which put his lead at as much as 20 percentage points, will inspire complacency among his core supporters, that voters will stay at home in record numbers. And there is cause for concern.

A landslide victory in 1997 ended 18 years of Tory government and offered a dose of euphoria to power-starved Laborites. Many of them expected an immediate relief from a generation of economic hardships and government cuts.

But Blair's brand of centrist politics--the "third way" between West European socialism and Tory conservatism--has been more like a sensible diet than a miracle cure: a slow slog with decent results, nothing dramatic. And there is room for improvement.

"They are fair and caring. Or they appear to be at least, until they are shown to be otherwise," said Labor voter Neil Kempshall, 68, in Brighton.