Actually the Lib Dems managed to increase their share of the vote a bit in second place, but a couple of years ago would have fancied their chances of winning a surprise victory in Henley.
Cameron needs to make the anti-government vote his and marginalise the Lib Dems in English constituencies.
So far he's doing a good job. The Tories are up in the polls while the Lib Dems are down and Labour, of course, is nowhere.
But the Lib Dems nearly always do better in elections (in terms of votes, if not necessarily seats) than they do in the polls, not least because they get a much bigger share of media attention because of "impartiality" rules.
What they have lacked during their recent revival (up from just a dozen or so seats 20 years ago) is a supporter or two in the national media.
For the Lib Dems almost any publicity is good publicity, because they get so little of it.
Even new leader Nick Clegg's silly admission to Piers Morgan in GQ that he's had "less than 30" lovers (did this mean 29?) wasn't the disaster the pundits thought. At least it got him into a paper with a bigger circulation than GQ.
Peccadilloes of one sort or another are inseparable from the Liberal Party, young and old. We had Charlie Kennedy's drinking, Mark Oaten's, er, well, peccadilloes, Paddy Ashdown during his "pantsdown" episode, Jeremy Thorpe with alleged assassination plots and a dog called Rinka and, for the historians among you, Lloyd George with a sex life that was vigorous for even a Welsh Methodist solicitor.
So who is going to bring a frown to David Cameron's sunny countenance and support the Lib Dems rather than the Tories? At this stage, it's hard to see anyone supporting Labour in 2010, although someone will of course.
What about The Guardian?
The Guardian flirted with the Lib Dems in 2005, having just about lost it with Tony Blair over Iraq, but then copped out. I can't remember, I'm ashamed to say, which way the Independent voted.
But the Guardian's serried ranks of columnists think it's all up with Gordon Brown but it's hard to see them switching to the Tories. They may quite like Cameron but the old Tory beast is still lurking in its "hang'em, flog'em", Eurosceptic lair.
Labour, under Brown or anyone else, is not going to win a majority in the next election (it may be almost wiped out if its misfortunes in Scotland continue).
But Cameron can only win if he pushes back the Lib Dems. At the moment, they're more likely to take English seats off Labour in the South West and the North than the Tories and that will prevent the Tories winning an overall majority.
Which would suit the liberal press, and maybe a few others, rather well.