Goodbye, Red Ken?

As Harry Truman would tell you, were he still with us, it is very risky to crow over outcomes of elections based on early returns. Nonetheless, without crowing, the Mirror.co.uk reports that in the London mayoral election, Conservative candidate Boris Johnson holds a large lead over Labour's Kennenth "Red Ken" Livingstone, with some three quarters of the vote counted. The Mayor of London is a relatively meaningless office, but this election is looked on as a possible bellweather of the respective fortunes of Labour and the Conservatives in upcoming parliamentary elections.