Clegg will not welcome yet another comparison with David Cameron but I thought that his debut at PMQs had many of the qualities of the early Cameron. He looked confident, sounded reasonable, avoided the "Punch and Punch" show and picked a topic, , that is of concern to ordinary people.
The measure of success today was merely walking out of the chamber unscathed. He did more than that. Even though he failed to make much of an impact in the Commons chamber but looked and sounded good on TV.
A sigh of relief then for him and the Lib Dems who must have smiled at the attempts by Messrs Brown and Cameron to be nice to their leader - aware that he could easily hold the key to which of them is in Downing Street after the next election. Brown told the Commons that during private meetings with Clegg he'd said there was "always an open door" to discuss issues. Cameron declared "I wish you well" before adding "although not that well".
Of more consequence than all this, however, was the prime minister's refusal once again to say that he favoured compulsory ID cards. There is normally a reason why politicians as experienced as Gordon Brown won't answer straight questions - particularly when they're posed three times in a row. Is Brown having second thoughts about going to the electorate promising that the government which lost the vital data of 25 million people will now force us all to pay for ID cards?
1. After Hillary's stunning surprise victory last night, "the Comeback Kid" will inevitably be applied to Gordon Brown -even if all he does is simply get through the first full week of politics in 2008 without a crisis.
2. The prime minister will come under pressure to follow Hillary by showing his emotion, finding his true voice and, perhaps even, welling up with tears.
3. It won't be long before Labour politicians steal the line that appears to have helped turn things round for Hillary by claiming that their guy has "the experience to deliver change"
4. Those who suggested that Brown like Clinton was doomed for being associated with the past and standing for experience rather than change will be mercilessly reminded of their predictions (yes, before you remind me , I know that I alluded to this parallel on the radio the other day).
5. Friends of the PM will point to the success of the age and experience of John McCain against the alleged charisma of Mike Huckabee.
6. Every politician will use the result last night to remind us not to trust the polls, the pundits and the headlines (which, other than in the Guardian, do appear to have got it horribly wrong). Nevertheless polls, pundits and headlines will continue to make predictions that often prove to be horribly wrong.
7. Gordon Brown will surely have to think again about listening to his favourite American political adviser, Bob Shrum. Shrum predicted yesterday that the "Clinton industry" had turned Hillary into a "product whose sell-by date has passed".
8. Those who insist that there cannot be any read across from the votes of small American states to British politics will be ignored because they simply don't get it. The political classes are gripped by this campaign. It will continue to feed into commentary, oratory and prediction all year - sometimes absurdly, occasionally aptly. The battle between Clinton and Obama, McCain, Romney and Huckabee is, like it or not, a part of Britain's electoral struggle.
