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Jules Vasquez reporting
The UDP nomination parade had the electric air of a carnival - rain didn't put a damper on these spirits - and in fact seemed to encourage a kind of reckless abandon on the streets.

Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"I am sure that if it hadn't rain there would have been more people, but look, at it is our cup is overflowing. So, no complaints."

The crowd was massive at least three, possibly four times the size of the PUP:

Jules Vasquez
"Quite a tremendous showing out here today. At least 3-4 times what the PUP had. Does that matter?"

Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"I think it does, because momentum might appear to be an intangible, but I think in the end it helps to create an air of inevitability about the UDP victory and then that feeds on itself and it becomes some sort of self-fulfilling. So I think it does matter."

Jules Vasquez
"The PUP is saying "tek them money and vote dem out." It's a question I ask you at every nomination day. Is the UDP becoming the 'guutyman,' the man from whom gifts are accepted but who is not the preferred suiter."

Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"But the last 3 elections prove otherwise, don't they? That is all the answer I think you need. Certainty all the answer you are going to get."

Jules Vasquez
"It's about 3-4 times what the PUP had, but does that matter?"

Anthony Martinez, Candidate Port Loyola
"That doesn't matter on a day like today. What matter it's good for the party and moral of the party. But to me what matters all the time, is what happens on Election Day."

Jules Vasquez
"How much of this muscularity we see out here is really just a function of money and the UDP's ability to let's say fundraised more effectively that the PUP which appears to be quite broke?"

Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"Well I am sure that (I don't know about the old song "no money, no love"), clearly there is an extent to which you got to pay from music boxes, you've got to pay for t-shirts, you got to pay for paraphernalia, so indeed we are fortunate in that we are attracting a great deal of financial support from the business community. Apart from everything else, apart from all the hype, apart from the atmospherics, apart from the color - I think that there is genuine support, genuine love, and genuine affection for the UDP."

The mood at the CB Hyde Building was different for the UDP as opposed to the PUP; they seemed at home and more fraternal.

And that's probably because they feel more at home in the city which is their base - and after a showing like this the party leader was even claiming new territory:

Mike Rudon, Ch 5
"Do you expect anything to change on November 5th?"

Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"Yes, I expect that we will acquire the Freetown seat and if I were a betting man, not only would I wager, I would offer odds."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it a real feeling or is it just symbolic candidate?"

Dr. Carla Barnett, UDP Candidate, Freetown
"Did you see the crowd that was with me this evening? That's a significant crowd and it all from Freetown, from nowhere else. They came all from Freetown of their volition."

Jules Vasquez
"But at the end of the day that's a function of money."

Dr. Carla Barnett, UDP Candidate, Freetown
"No. Not at all. The people came out because they wanted to come out and they stood in the rain and they waited with us and they came and there wasn't a lot of singing and dancing in my crowd. People just wanted to walk with me."

And a many of the UDP Candidates said the same thing - and while the enthusiasm and size of the crowd may have suggested external inducements - that's politics:

Jules Vasquez
"This morning the Leader of the Opposition says that he is quite sure they will form the government and that he expects as much as 18-13 in the PUP's favor."

Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"I would say that the Leader of the Opposition must have had a very good night sleep, because came up with a wonderful dream. I am not going to get into numbers. All I will say is that I have the distinct sense. I have every confidence that we are going to win handsomely."

Jules Vasquez
"What you are asking for is 3 terms. It's never been done and there is a reason it's never been done. Because after 10 years in government, in your case, seven and a half years, the thrill is gone."

Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"Seven and a half is not ten. How long is too long if it's good? The fact is that we have been delivering. We've been helped not just by good stewardship, we've enjoyed good fortune, but because there is this sort of a track record I think people are happy to vote for us again."

So how do the crowds compare? Well as we said in the story, the PUP had 600, but it was hard to count because of the rain and umbrellas - so we'll put it up to 800. The UDP had about four times that with a crowd of three thousand or more.