Balance of power:It has been a long time coming, but the election 2007 campaign was finally given its official start early yesterday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The outgoing state of the parties is: Fianna Fáil, 80 seats; Fine Gael, 32; Labour, 21; the Progressive Democrats, eight; the Green Party, six; Sinn Féin, five; and the Independents, including the Socialist Party's Joe Higgins, 14.
However, there have been a few changes along the way since the people went to the polls on May 17th, 2002, when Fianna Fáil won 81 seats.
Fine Gael won 31 seats in its worst election performance yet; Labour won 20 seats, while one of its longest-serving TDs, Carlow/Kilkenny's Séamus Pattison, was automatically re-elected because he was the outgoing ceann comhairle.
In May 2004, Fianna Fáil's Beverley Flynn, daughter of former European commissioner Pádraig Flynn, finally parted ways with her party after the Supreme Court ruled that she had encouraged tax evasion as a National Irish Bank employee.
Three months later, Fine Gael, still battered and bruised after its election humiliation, received a boost when the Independent Wexford TD Dr Liam Twomey joined its ranks.
In late October 2004, Fianna Fáil's Charlie McCreevy and Fine Gael's former taoiseach John Bruton left for pastures new. Bruton took over as EU ambassador to Washington, while McCreevy became a European commissioner.
In March 2005, the Government suffered two further blows in the byelections caused by the departure of Bruton and McCreevy, when Fianna Fáil failed to hold on to the former minister for finance's Kildare North seat.
The loss may have been inevitable given that ruling parties always struggle in mid-term byelections, but the scale of the defeat and the emergence of Independent Catherine Murphy will make the seat's recapture difficult.
In Meath, the situation was no better for Fianna Fáil. Though the seat had been held by Bruton, there were doubts among many that Fine Gael could re-emerge given its 2002 drubbing.
In the event, victory for Fine Gael's Shane McEntee marked a resurgence in party fortunes that was to be copper-fastened by dramatic wins in the European Parliament and local elections.
So what do the parties need to win or hold on to? Losses would have to be kept to a minimum - just four seats - for Fianna Fáil and the PDs to resume relations.
Given the seat bonuses enjoyed through the proportional representation system by Fianna Fáil under Ahern up to now - which is unlikely to be repeated to the same extent - even senior party strategists acknowledge that losses are inevitable.
Nevertheless, Ahern has other options besides Michael McDowell. For many, a deal with Labour is the most likely, indeed the most welcome, even if it is not Pat Rabbitte's desire.
If Labour's support stays relatively stable, which, rightly or wrongly, is the belief of most observers, a post-election pact with Labour could be hammered out even if Fianna Fáil suffers near-catastrophic losses, dropping to the mid-60s.
Or Ahern could seek to entice the Greens into a coalition, perhaps, even, with minority support from Sinn Féin, which is expected to add to its current crop of five seats.
Fine Gael must make extraordinary gains if the FG-Labour coalition is to have a chance. Not only must Fine Gael regain all of its 23 losses in 2002, it must add more - and without taking seats at Labour's expense.
In reality, the two-party coalition would have to have a third band in the form of the Greens to have a realistic chance, though the Greens have cleverly kept their post-election options open.
Regardless, however, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny must win nearly 50 seats - 18 more than in 2002 - if he is to have a decent shot at becoming taoiseach in the post-election horse-trading.
In constituency terms, this means that every final seat in five-seater constituencies must fall Fine Gael's way, such as Laois-Offaly, for example, thus ending the Progressive Democrats' Tom Parlon's time in the Dáil.
Clearly, however, the Greens will make significant strides in the 2007 election, especially if they run a careful campaign.
So what are the voters' options? Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats; Fianna Fáil-Labour; Fine Gael-Labour; Fine Gael- Labour-Greens; Fianna Fáil- Greens; any one of the above with a clutch of Independents; or, possibly, support for a Fianna Fáil-led minority government from Sinn Féin.
In election 2007, the permutations on the first day of the battle for the hearts and minds of the voters are endless, in what could be the most exciting vote in a generation, or more.