Apologies for missing a post yesterday. I decided on an "early night" so hit the hay around 1.30 am.
The sun has certainly brightened up the campaign trail and certainly seems to put people in a good mood; perhaps Fianna Fáil are wrong in hoping for rain on Friday.
People on the doors and others we talk to are now very focussed on the election; the numbers of 'don't knows' are on the decrease and there is a strong awareness. I met a few of the other candidates and campaigners at Tallaght Hospital today, where I was attending the "Hands Around the Hospital" demo with my colleagues Mick Duff and Cllr Eamonn Maloney.
One of the discussions was around turnout; my thoughts are that it'll be around the same as the high 2004 turnout, but some of the affecting factors such as weather and final campaign swings are yet to come. A high turnout is clearly beneficial to Labour and non-Government candidates; the core FF vote will be comparatively higher in a low turnout.
Hardly a soul, if you'll pardon the pun, at the Vigil Mass in Greenhills tonight as we did one of our final church gate canvasses; fewer people in at the doorsteps today too. It'll remain like this for the Bank Holiday weekend but the work for the campaigners never stops. There's no silver bullet at this stage but we certainly want to freshen things up in the last few days. Smiles all round today from those who we did meet and a great reception to the positive message and ideas of our campaign.
We'll have the result this time next week. Let's hope we're still smiling then.
