Accra — Conventional wisdom, which in this instance can be taken as a fait accompli is that Election 2008 is going to be a life and death fight between the NPP and NDC.

The other little parties, especially CPP, PNC and DFP, would weigh in some how, but would have very little impact. For the NPP and NDC, with these crunch elections, the loser would go into the political wilderness for a very, very long time, perhaps longer than the NPP and its antecedents have been - 30 years - before finally breaking out in 2000.

Both parties know that and are therefore not taking things lightly - or are they?

Many factors will come into play: the economy, human rights issues, development, etc, because after the NPP's two terms, the two parties would be evenly matched, each having had two terms of uninterrupted constitutional mandate, though the NDC can boast of an additional 11 years or so as a full military dictatorship.

That perhaps is the reason why they are pre-occupied with issues of "flag-bearership", the word that has now come to define contemporary Ghanaian politics.

The NDC late last year took the lead by endorsing once more Professor John Evans Atta-Mills as presidential candidate for Election 2008. He served as a one-term Vice President during the second term of the NDC (1996-2000).

The NPP on the other hand, with an open-ended policy of "any one can run for president" is still grappling with what strategy to adopt to get a truly national figure who can ensure a third historic term for the party. Close to twenty individuals say they are the right people. Their numbers may increase or reduce by the time the party convenes to select one of them.

In the NPP, the sitting Vice President was initially being side-lined until recently when his national visibility dawned on many people as a possible, if not probable main contender to succeed the historic two-term president Kufuor, the man responsible for the Vice President's meteoric journey from the suburb of Vittin in Tamale to the Christianbourg Castle in Osu Accra to become the 4th Vice President of Ghana. By election 2008, he would have become the first Ghanaian to set the record as a two-term Vice President, an achievement which his boss can be proud of.

Should he get the nomination of the NPP either from fending off the other aspirants in a congress, or get selected eventually by an acclamation, it would be the first time that two Vice Presidents, one former, the other sitting, would be squaring off in an election in Ghana - a rare feat indeed not observed in many countries around the world.

That would certainly mark out Election 2008 as unique which would generate much interest, possibly attracting one of, if not, the largest turn out of voters in Ghana's electoral history. This speculation can only remain tantalizing until the NPP takes a fateful decision sooner or later and the keys to the new presidential mansion at the Flagstaff House would pass on!