TAKE three party leaders, three televised debates, five constituencies in the north west, a Daily Mirror chicken, a bigoted woman, one very long night and what do you get?

Yep, it’s the Champion election twitter feed, which has worked so successfully that I’ve now no idea what to do with it. When we had candidates calling us every morning with the cut ‘n’ thrust news from the campaign trail it worked beautifully, and I know this because lots of people from across the political spectrum – and some slightly outside it – joined up to hear what we and the region’s would-be MPs had to say.

But now it’s all over after what felt like the longest election night in history (and with debate still raging over who’s going to Prime Minister, some say it’s still going). Southport’s John Pugh, Bootle’s Joe Benton and West Lancashire’s Rosie Cooper held onto their seats, while elsewhere we’ve welcomed Lorraine Fullbrook into South Ribble and Bill Esterson into Sefton Central. But their stories are ones for The Champion, not an online feed with a strict limit of 160 characters.

How much of a success was it? Should it carry more than just politics? Should we carry it on? For now the jury’s out but I’d love to know, because at least when it comes to news in short, snappy snippets I’ve been converted.

Although if there’s another election due any time soon – and quite a few politicians reckon there might be – it could come in handy again sooner than you’d think.

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