Local area profileThey may be best of friends in the Dáil but in their home county of Offaly, Brian Cowen and Tom Parlon are barely on speaking terms.
Fearful of a major breakthrough locally by the Progressive Democrats, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has been seen with increasing frequency about the streets of Tullamore and Birr but never in the company of the "Minister for Decentralisation", as the former IFA chief likes to paint himself.
Not even, that is, at the opening of a new business and technology park in Ferbane last Monday.
Cowen's invitation to Parlon for the sod-turning ceremony apparently got lost in the post.
"The first we knew about the event was when we read it in The Irish Times," said an irked PD activist.
Such tactics are all part and parcel of electioneering in Cowen country. But Parlon's people are fighting back with a highly-visible campaign, backed by big-hitters in the party.
The Tánaiste was in Ferbane last weekend, pressing the flesh with churchgoers who had dubbed her "Holy Mary", such was her impressive mass-going rate.
The importance of the PD push in Offaly lies in the make-up of the current council. Fianna Fáil is one seat short of a majority but has effectively ruled the roost thanks to a couple of sympathetic Independents.
Were the PDs to gain a seat or two - as they fully anticipate - they would most likely hold the balance of power in the next chamber. Like in the last general election, the party is campaigning locally under the slogan "coalition works better".
Probably the party's best hope is in Birr, where Mr Parlon took 26 per cent of first preferences in the 2002 general election.
The Junior Minister's director of elections, close friend and senior IFA official Liam Egan, is the chosen candidate. His backers are playing up claims that the PDs will deliver up to 400 FÁS jobs to Birr under decentralisation.
Fine Gael is strong in the town where TD Olwyn Enright topped the poll in 1999. The party has increased its number of candidates from three to four, but retaining its two seats is probably the most it can expect. Tom Rigney, who was co-opted onto the council last November, and Percy Clendennen, a councillor for 30 years, are clear favourites.
Fianna Fáil, which holds the remaining three seats in Birr, is vulnerable to dropping one. That would be seen in the party as a reasonable result, given that one of the three, Peter Ormond, ran in 1999 as an Independent.
Sinead Moylan-Ryan, whose father Pat was a long-serving candidate in the town, faces a tough battle with fellow Fianna Fáil newcomer Jimmy O'Brien.
The Labour Party is still struggling in Offaly from the departure from politics of ex-TD Pat Gallagher, who handed his council seat to Seán O'Brien after topping the poll in 1999. O'Brien should retain the seat but is unlikely to gain the personal vote that Gallagher got, leaving hundreds of votes up for grabs for rival parties.
Fianna Fáil is leading the charge for a gain, with Barry Cowen, a brother of the Minister, hoping to bring home both Danny Owens, an inter-county hurler who benefits from the geographical breakdown of candidates, and one of Paddy Rowland, and Brain Digan, both town-based candidates.
Fine Gael also hopes to increase its representation from two to three in the seven-seat constituency.
Sitting councillor Dervill Dolan, a FF-voting Independent, could be vulnerable. But Independent councillor Molly Buckley, chairwoman of the National Wheelchair Association and a high-profile campaigner on health and disabilities, is expected to be returned.
Edenderry is another target for the PDs, with Fergus McDonnell, who narrowly missed out in 1999 when running as an Independent, backed by running-mate Eddie Fitzpatrick, who has strong IFA support locally.
The latter will principally weaken Fianna Fáil's Cllr Tom Nolan, a near neighbour in Portarlington.
The PDs also believe the Fine Gael seat of Cllr John Foran is vulnerable, although shifting sitting councillors is easier said than done.
Ferbane could prove to be the tightest contest with the four sitting councillors trying to resist strong campaigns by Labour's Timmy Molloy and Seán O'Brien of the PDs.
The latter party sees the current council chairman, Fianna Fáil's Tom Feighery, as a target.
Fianna Fáil is clearly rattled by the inroads of its coalition partners. Said one party activist: "We can deal with the Fine Gaels and Labours; they're the old enemy. But the PDs are the big unknown."
