Compiled by Shane Hegarty
All about image
The alternative coalition has managed to strike a blow before Thursday's poll, with the Labour Party's Cllr Dominic Hannigan and Ann Marie Martin of Fine Gael voted the best-looking candidates in this election.
The poll was carried out by Paddy Power bookmakers, which has presented the two glamorous winners with a €1,000 bet on election day. All winnings will be donated to Crumlin Children's Hospital and Abacus Autism.
Campaign Traildoes not go in for such superficialities, but it is probably fair to say that Liz O'Donnell might have been an early favourite in the women's race. However, she finished 5 per cent behind Martin, with Mary Lou McDonald and Lucinda Creighton making up the numbers.
In the men's event, Hannigan took 38 per cent of the vote, leaving the FG trio of John Deasy, Dr Leo Varadkar and Brian Hayes trailing in his dashing wake.
A total of 1,200 people voted in the poll for "Dáil Dude" and "Dáil Darling". Surely there will be a parade on election day, with the two waving at the electorate from a float.
A vote for firmer thighs and buns
If they want to keep their looks, perhaps the winners will follow the diet discovered by Fianna Fáil Dublin South-West candidate Charlie O'Connor.
"I'm doing an average of 10 to 12 functions a night after a day's canvassing, and I can feel the weight dropping off. I've lost over a stone in the last month," he has revealed.
He's calling it the GE (general election) diet, rather than the GI (glycemic index) diet that's all the rage these days. "I suppose it's a mixture of nervous energy and constant exercise. I haven't changed my diet at all but I can definitely feel a difference and my constituents are noticing it, too."
An exercise video and book will no doubt follow, especially now that he can fit into a leotard.
On yer bike
Given that there are legions of cyclists who each morning brave traffic and suddenly vanishing bicycle lanes, they could form a decent voting block if they put their minds to it.
Certainly, the Dublin Cycling Campaign hopes so. It canvassed 88 candidates in Dublin, plus the Minister for Transport, on their use of, and attitude to, bikes.
Forty replied, with eight saying they used a bicycle daily and nine weekly; 18 rarely cycle and five never do. Not surprisingly, half of the daily cyclists were Green Party candidates. But don't be buying any bicycle clips for Fine Gael candidates, as they were most likely to rarely or never cycle.
The full results can be found at http://home.connect.ie/dcc