"In trying to put the Lib Dems on the map and selling their soul"

My constituency up until recently been basically a Lib Dem fiefdom - but they'd maintained their position over their main rivals (the Conservatives) because some people who would perhaps normally support the SNP or Labour would vote Lib Dem as a specifically anti-Tory measure. But when the parties become almost indistinguishable what's the point in doing that? Plus their campaign treated people as simpletons. On one part of the election leaflet it boasted of how good a job they were doing at UK level in conjunction with their Tory partners - and just underneath that in big writing was "remember voting Lib dem is the only way to keep the Tories out" They've ended up not just losing again but falling back into third behind the SNP.