Fianna Fáil wants the electorate to think back to 1999, and the changes and improvements made since, before casting ballots on June 11th.
The Labour Party has a much shorter timescale in mind for the electorate: the weeks running up to the May 2002 general election.
"If they lied to you coming up to 2002 should you believe Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats now?" declared the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Pat Rabbitte yesterday.
Entering the campaign, Labour, which is fielding 304 candidates across all 26 counties, is in confident mood, though shy of predicting its final seat tally.
Equally, the Labour leader was a little shy about entering into the electoral battlefield shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny.
Questioned yesterday, Mr Rabbitte would only encourage Labour voters to "continue their preferences against the Government".
However, there was nothing about limiting those preferences to Labour's putative coalition partners, Fine Gael and the Greens.
Perhaps it was little more than a slip, but it may prove telling in time if Fine Gael's local election performance is less than startling.
Nevertheless, Labour is confident that the locals can be turned into a mid-term and negative referendum on the performance of the Government.
"This is the first opportunity that the Irish people have had since the reversal of engines by the Government after the 2002 general election," said Mr Rabbitte.
Fianna Fáil, he said, had cynically targeted their election promises towards the weak and vulnerable: those who needed medical cards, respite care, home-helps, etc.
"Fianna Fáil knew what it was doing when they were making those promises. They knew the influence those promises would have," the Labour leader said.
Though Labour acknowledges that the public is not in much mood to listen to any politician, it is still confident that it can strike a chord or two.
In particular, Labour believes the Achilles' Heel of the Government is house prices, despite the Government's pleadings that construction is at an all-time high.
"House prices have trebled. In 1997, the average price of a new house was €97,000. Now it is over €300,000. House prices have increased by nine times inflation," the Labour manifesto says.
It adds: "The builder friends of Fianna Fáil have grown rich on the housing crisis. Land rezoners and speculators have made huge fortunes. And Fianna Fáil has made them even richer by halving their capital gains tax.
"Instead of tackling the causes of the housing crisis, Fianna Fáil has attacked its victims."
For many, many months, Labour strategists have been concerned that Fianna Fáil has avoided being damaged by allegations.
"We are often too shy about saying it but our councillors are decent, honest people who work hard on behalf of their communities," the Labour leader said.
While Labour reserved most of its bile for Fianna Fáil, it has plenty to spare for Sinn Féin, even if it doesn't want to give the smaller party the oxygen of publicity.
When questioned directly about Sinn Féin, though, Labour figures have their ammunition ready to hand: Sinn Féin is awful in the Dáil and invisible on councils, they claim.