Apologies for flippancy, but the main difference to me is that I am seeing something of the inside of party politics due to working with one them on the EP elections in Finland. It is not a terribly pretty sight. Marketing pros see what's wrong fairly quickly and are usually supported by the younger denizens of the machine because we are saying what they have been thinking, but were afraid to say.

A party is always evolving as the generations change, but it is top down and therefore very slow. The top level people are like the generals - always fighting the last war.

You can't be me, I'm taken