For those of us who have watched this lacklustre Welsh referendum campaign struggle to catch the attention of the voters, the arrival of the deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and the Tory leader, William Hague, in Newport yesterday, couldn't come soon enough. "The Yorkie bar kid," joked Mr Prescott, would be defeated again in Wales, as he had been in Scotland. Mr Hague, meanwhile, attempted to concentrate on the issues: "It is not a party political issue. The Welsh Assembly will be an expensive talking shop."
It hardly added up to a bitter exchange between two political rivals; it was no more than a few political broadsides shot above the heads of the Welsh voters. But it was passionate nonetheless.
The fledgling Tory leader, whom many voters don't even recognise even here in Wales where he was once Welsh Secretary, looks like a worried man. The majority of Welsh Tories have placed in him their hopes of a revival following the defeat of the No campaign in Scotland last week. Predictably, they will not entertain the prospect of two policy defeats in the space of one week. For Mr Hague, leading a party that is preparing to vote on his leadership, the campaign for a Welsh Assembly has somehow transformed itself into a straight fight between Labour and the Tories. In the past three days, the focus has shifted from policy to personality, but at present, Mr Hague simply cannot compete with Mr Blair in the popularity stakes. Not that this campaign should be about choosing which politicians the Welsh favour, but it has become that without anyone really noticing.
The key issue for Mr Hague as he breezed into Newport, south Wales, yesterday was the cost of a Welsh Assembly. It is an argument that might well determine the outcome.
Wandering through the early morning auction at Newport's cattle market, Mr Hague attempted to leave behind the issue of his leadership and tell it like it is. Simply translated, a Welsh Assembly would cost the voters the equivalent of two hospitals or 16 schools.
"It would be £100 million spent on a Welsh Assembly instead of on public services. What I am saying is that if, after all this campaigning and propaganda, people still can't make up their minds, then they should vote No," Mr Hague said.
When he was asked what implications a No vote might have on his leadership, his reply came with a hearty laugh: "This campaign does not have any bearing on that. It is not relevant at all."
Somewhat confused as to what Mr Hague wanted to achieve by visiting a cattle market, the media entourage attempted to set up the obligatory photo opportunity.
Ever willing to oblige the cameras, Mr Hague stroked a few sheep in their pens but when one of the sheep attempted to jump on the back of another, he moved swiftly on muttering: "Oh, they're getting very excited. Perhaps we'll move on now."
As soon as Mr Hague left for a walkabout in Monmouth, a few of the farmers in Newport voiced their reservations about a Welsh Assembly. Dyfrrig Richards saw the vote as a loyalty issue with a Welsh Assembly achieving little for Wales apart from a greater vote for the nationalists.
Others reflected the view that, with up to six Welsh Labour MPs indicating they would vote No today, the Yes camp was just as divided as the Noes. No sooner had Mr Hague left Newport than Mr Prescott arrived from the train station on a local bus. He stood in the town centre and urged the 300 voters who had turned out on a cold afternoon to "open the gates to a greater democracy". Scotland had voted Yes last week, and now so must they. But Mr Prescott's visit to Newport was not entirely without problems. Hecklers shouted at him in the town centre "There is no democracy." While many people had come to see him, for some it was just a chance to watch a politician at work.
Michael Clarke waved a yellow Yes balloon above his head before confessing it would take "a lot more than a bluff Yorkshireman to convince me to vote for a Welsh Assembly".