“This”—the merger between Herzog’s Labor Party and Livni’s upstart Hatnuah—was the big story of the campaign. It resurrected Livni as a candidate and put Labor in serious contention to form a government for the first time since 1999. For months, Herzog and Livni’s Zionist Union and Netanyahu’s Likud had traded a one-seat edge in the polls, but over the past week the opposition had opened a three-to-four-seat lead. Suddenly, Israelis were seriously considering the prospect that someone other than Netanyahu might be Prime Minister. But now, less than forty-eight hours before the polls opened, the campaign had taken a turn, and just about everyone at the Zionist Union headquarters but Livni seemed worried.
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