VISITING KILKENNY yesterday, the new Taoiseach went on his first walkabout outside his native Offaly. The cats purred with approval and the "Big Fella" grinned like a bespectacled Macavity.
Mr Cowen arrived on a "Yes Bus" to promote the Fianna Fáil campaign for the Lisbon Treaty.
He moved along the medieval streets at breakneck speed greeting everyone including a party of startled Canadian tourists. They had no idea who he was but listened as he told them his uncle had "worked in the Yukon". "Wow" said Adam Kane from Alberta, on being told he had just met the Irish prime minister, "Now I feel privileged".
He wasn't the only one. On the High Street, local party activist Sheila Molloy beamed with pleasure after meeting him and said what she always loved about him was his ability to tackle Fine Gael: "He's able to chew them up and spit them out."
Ominously she observed: "He'll put manners on Enda Kenny."
Outside the post office, the Taoiseach fumbled in his pocket and put a coin in a collection bucket labelled "Please Help the Missions". He was on a roll now. A man in an "Elvis" shirt told him: "You're like Elvis, you're a legend." A grinning Taoiseach replied: "He had far more hits than I had."
But Mr Cowen was a big hit with young people - many of whom appeared delighted to meet him and snapped him on their mobile phone cameras. Colin Manning (17) a student at St Kieran's college described him as "a sound man - he's grand."
Joan Murphy, another local Fianna Fáil member, thought he would be "a fantastic Taoiseach and won't take any nonsense - everyone's going to have to toe the line".
After a courtesy call to Mayor Marie Fitzpatrick (Labour) the convoy travelled south through the hurling heartlands of south Kilkenny to the village of Mullinavat for a Lisbon Treaty meeting at the Rising Sun pub.
The party faithful had come in droves to toast the Offaly man. Mr Cowen told them "he was among his own" and he was.
They listened respectfully as he reminded them it was the day of the 82nd anniversary of the founding of Fianna Fáil and he called on them to "send the right signal to Europe" and vote Yes.
He invoked the spirit of Lemass and appealed to the many farmers in the audience: "Do not make the mistake of voting No."
He received a standing ovation and rapturous applause.