THE most exciting part of any election is the tally of the first preference votes. After that, counts fall into a sleepy pattern - long hours of people in mysterious huddles transferring surpluses and dividing the votes of the eliminated in a mad dance of political death for some and elation for others.
No wonder then that the arrival of Bertie, alias Taoiseach in waiting, caused such excitement at the end of a long day at the RDS Simmonscourt pavilion where six Dublin constituency counts were conducted.
The cement floors at the RDS are hard on the feet and the cameramen and reporters were frazzled by the time Bertie and his partner, Celia Larkin, drew up outside the complex shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday - six hours after he was elected for Dublin Central.
However, preparing for the days ahead, he was in dealing mood when he alighted into the lime light and the media ruck. The mantle of power was not quite on his shoulders yet, but he raised his hands with the authority of a man who knows his great moment is nigh.
I'll make a deal, he offered, "If you all just stand, I'll stay here." He would form a government with the Progressive Democrats, he predicted, though some of his followers who did not wish to be named had sweet prayers to offer for the putative junior partners.
"The PDs started our problems in 1985 when they split, and now because of their injudicious remarks during the campaign, they have emerged again as our weakest link," one of Bertie's supporters maintained.
The leader was having no acrimony on this night. He had spent the day locked away from the prime media - his handlers insisting that he needed time to rest and be alone.
On Saturday night at the RDS, however, there was no escape and he found himself storming through a battery of cameras to the embrace of Marian McGennis, his running mate in Dublin Central, who took a seat on the back of his 5,000 vote surplus.
Celia Larkin, in a smart dark suit, was rudely pushed aside as the hacks clamoured for his wisdom. Tory MP Peter TempleMorris was in the throng to congratulate him, but the crowd was so boisterous it was impossible even to photograph them together.
Then, 12 hours after the tally suggested that Bertie would deliver a second seat in Dublin Central, the returning officer stood to give official confirmation that the tally people had got it right again. Ahern, Gregory, Mitchell and McGennis had been elected and poor Joe Costello fell victim to the vagaries of the electorate.
News had been pouring in all day of other Labour losses, and Fianna Fail was taking some pleasure from the spectacle. "Joan Burton has lost her seat," said one. "One cerise jacket for sale".
It's a cruel trade all right.