David Maddox: Are the Lib Dems ready for the fight?

Times are tough, not least it seems for Scotland's political parties.

The Liberal Democrats, who even in their leanest Liberal years could rely on a fair level of support in Scotland, are, according to their website, ill-prepared for the next election, which in theory could happen as early as June.

There are just five candidates listed in the People Section of scotlibdems.org.uk. Even if you add their 12 MPs, this leaves them prepared to fight a mere 17 of the 59 Scottish Westminster constituencies.

The question is whether the financial problems alluded to in recent reports and the low membership base of 5,000 are endangering the Lib Dems of becoming fixed as the fourth party of Scotland. Even the Greens believe they can have a go at overtaking them.

Opponents suggest that 2005's haul of a dozen seats was a high water mark and 2009 or 2010 will merely be a matter of how many they can hold on to.

So is it possible that the limited number of candidates merely reflects a new focused cost effective strategy?