Galway East doesn't have a reputation for thunder and lightning during general election campaigns. However, the elements did strike in 2002, albeit on polling day, depriving at least one polling station of power for several hours in the south of the constituency.
And there is a mighty struggle for same - power, that is - this time round, with Fianna Fáil pushing once more for the elusive third seat and Fine Gael hoping to regain the second that it lost in 2002.
Fine Gael had secured its second when the constituency representation was extended in 1997 from three to four under the Boundary Committee review.
However, sitting TD Ulick Burke (FG) was eliminated after the third count in 2002, losing out to Fianna Fáil newcomer Joe Callanan, who reached the quota. Former Fianna Fáil councillor Paddy McHugh, campaigning on a strong health/Grove Hospital, Tuam ticket, surprised pundits by taking Michael Kitt's (FF) place with over 7,000 first preference votes.
The campaign to retain a secondary school in south Galway, following the Mercy order's decision to close Seamount College in Kinvara, is one of the issues that Senator Burke has focused on. In fact, overcrowded and understaffed schools at both primary and second level has come up as an issue in several parts of the sprawling constituency.
However, the Progressive Democrats (PDs) have also made much noise about Seamount, and its candidate, Cllr Ciarán Cannon, secured a visit by Tánaiste Michael McDowell some weeks back to meet representatives of the school campaign.
Fianna Fáil has attempted to soothe waters in the harbour with a decision by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin to commission a review of south Galway school needs. That party's ebullient Minister of State, Noel Treacy (FF), is regarded as the proverbial "shoo- in", although he had to wait till the fourth count to be returned in 2002, and poll-topper Paul Connaughton (FG) has enjoyed a strong farming vote.
Both Independent TD Paddy McHugh and Cllr Tom McHugh (FG), (no relation), are based in the Tuam area, and Tom McHugh is said to be getting a positive reception.
Fine Gael's Dr John Barton, a consultant in Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, is also performing well, according to both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael sources.
His party adopted a "railway line" strategy applied in 1997, whereby candidates used the rail route to divide the constituency in two.
The arrangement didn't work as well as was expected last time out, according to Burke supporters, who say that Connaughton didn't keep far enough north.
Labour councillor Colm Keaveney is a former Tuam mayor, and had the second-highest first preference vote in the 2004 local elections. As a Siptu representative, he is associated with health issues relating to working conditions and pay.
Recently, he told the Connacht Tribune that the "betrayal of Irish Ferry workers and low-paid non-Irish workers" was one of the reasons he would not be happy to be part of a government coalition with Fianna Fáil.
Other candidates like Adrian Feeney (Ind), a community development worker based in Gort, Sinn Féin's Cllr Jason Devlin from Ballinasloe and the Green Party's Maíread Ní Chroínín will be hoping to benefit somewhat from the fact that the constituency's profile has changed radically in the last five years.
Much agricultural land has been sold for housing, and Irish and "new Irish" families who find Galway city too expensive have moved out to more affordable areas like Tuam, Loughrea, Claregalway and Athenry.
Therefore, while the future of Tuam's hospital is important - and very much so to opposition candidates who want to remind voters of the Taoiseach's broken promise to reopen it in 2002 - it is not quite as significant as the difficulties of commuting, according to some party sources.
And then there's that burning issue - water - and contamination of Lough Corrib, which is a particularly sore point in Oughterard, and in the Headford area, where the cryptosporidium parasite was confirmed two months ago.
Verdict - FF - 2 FG - 2
Gain for Fine Gael from Independents
