All in all, it has been a good start to the campaign.In Dublin Central, I am getting a good reaction from the voters. They are furious with the state of the country but know they need to turn their anger into action. People are worried about their jobs, their kids and their homes. I don’t have all the answers but I am hoping that I can help them after February 25th.
Nationally, the campaign is fascinating. I am genuinely surprised that no real Michael Martin bounce has occurred and that Fianna Fail’s support remains around the mid-teens. Growing up in Dublin Central proved one thing to me- never write Fianna Fail off. Still, with three weeks before polling it doesn’t look good for them.
Labour, I hope, will spend the weekend reflecting on how their approach doesn’t seem to be working. Eamon Gilmore’s lead as preferred Taoiseach has evaporated – he’s down 17 points in today’s Irish Times poll and is just 2% ahead of Enda. Amongst committed voters Enda is leading.
This is despite what I see as Labour’s “Eamon Only” strategy that neglected the rest of their team.
The weekend will bring more polls, more punditry and, alas, more negativity. All of these are distractions. We got to keep on trucking.
If only we could keep our posters up too.