Is anyone interested in the election?

ANALYSIS By Andrew Marr Political Editor, BBC News

Imagine the scene. On the theatre stage is the most amazingly energetic show - singing, dancing, fights and magic tricks. But out there the seating is half empty and the auditorium, silent. No-one laughs. Nobody claps. There's scarcely the energy for a boo.

Manifesto launches have failed to excite voters

This is how the first week of the election campaign has felt. On stage, as it were, we have had the three main party manifesto launches. We have had ferocious, detailed and important arguments about whether the tax and spending promises add up, or are slick frauds on the public.

We have had political amusements, such as the fiddling with a photograph that caused the Tory candidate in the marginal seat of Dorset South to go into hiding; and the strange game-show-come-revivalist rally used by Labour to launch their "little red book" manifesto; and the equally lavish public display of mutual affection from Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

We have seen "outside" stories impact on the politicians - everything from the London terrorist trial, to the happy arrival of young six-pounder Donald Kennedy, to a sceptical report from the IMF.

Could the 'can't be bothered with it' party win another huge advance?

The air above Battersea heliport is constantly battered by whirlybirds with political leaders on board, heading for marginal and photogenic parts of the country. The desks of every political journalist are piled high with rebuttal documents, sly accusations, briefings and counter-briefings.

My personal favourite so far is a complaint from the other parties after I'd referred to the Liberal Democrats as having, rather than a black hole on spending, a "black puddle". No, came the rebuttal papers, it was surely deeper than a puddle...

Parallel universe

In short, sleep-deprived and existing in a strange parallel universe fuelled by pizzas, coffee and white wine, the political classes are having the most wonderful fun, working all the hours of the day and busting our often considerable guts.

And yet... frankly, none of it seems to have mattered very much. One poll puts Labour up a fraction, another has the Tories briefly bobbing, but in general the party ratings have barely moved.

Immigration and asylum could be a vote winner for Mr Howard

No-one has achieved any kind of breakthrough. If the audience is out there, and still watching, their arms are folded, and many are yawning.

Some small signs of movement are reported from doorstep campaigners and telephone canvassers: asylum and immigration are playing very strongly, particularly through the English south and east.

One senior US pollster who is over here studying the campaign even thinks fears about immigration could give Michael Howard his breakthrough issue - except that, for that to happen, the Tory leader would have to turn up the volume so high he'd be bitterly attacked by the national media.

The other possible trend is a drift by disillusioned former Labour voters back to the fold - Labour "likely to vote" numbers are rising, the pollsters think. But campaign teams on all sides urge caution about this.

'Can't be bothered'

At the 2001 election, general apathy about politics and an equally widespread assumption about the outcome, helped produce a turnout of just 59%, the lowest for any general election in Britain's general election history.

Donald Kennedy made his entrance in the campaign's first week

This time, the inflaming effect of the Iraq war and the foxhunting ban, and a perceived revival in Tory fortunes under Mr Howard, surely ought to increase participation.

Yet the first week has been strangely quiet, out in the country. Could the "can't be bothered with it" party win another huge advance?

The cluster of London streets from where the campaigns are being fought have few moments of calm. But when a momentary lull descends, the fear that our democracy is failing to retain the interest of a nation of shoppers is there in the background.

The stage is bright and loud; the theatre's quiet and dim.