There was no stopping girl power in Omagh this week, as the SDLP's West Tyrone candidate, Brid Rodgers, braved the elements to press the flesh.
The constituency was expected to be a two-horse race between the sitting MP - the anti-agreement Ulster Unionist Willie Thompson - and the Sinn Fein vice-president, Pat Doherty. But it is shaping up as a three-way battle since the SDLP parachuted in its high-profile Agriculture Minister. In Omagh's Centenary Way estate on Tuesday, there was no hint that Ms Rodgers, a native of Gweedore, Co Donegal, was the new girl in town.
Having hardly had a chance to knock on the door of a neatly pebbled terraced house, she was ushered into a livingroom by four beaming elderly ladies in mauve cardigans. "Oh certainly dear, I'll be voting for you - you are doing a great job. We girls need to stick together," said one, putting her arm around the candidate.
"I remember you from years ago when you came down with your cousin to go to Mass here. One day you were late and my brother got up and gave you his seat," another chipped in excitedly.
"A true gentleman. Believe me, there aren't many of those around," replied Ms Rodgers. The old ladies giggled in agreement.
"So much for not being a native," she said to her aides, explaining that for generations people from Gweedore used to come to Omagh as farm hands and domestics, and settle there for good. Her campaign team was hanging on to her every word. If rumours that local SDLP members were initially not happy about her being parachuted in over the local candidate, Mr Joe Byrne, are true, Ms Rodgers certainly seemed to have won over any opposition.
Mr Byrne, faithfully introducing the candidate on every doorstep, said he was "proud to be supporting" Ms Rodgers. He admitted that the foot-and-mouth crisis did the Minister no harm in the popularity stakes. "As the Minister, she gets votes from farmers who wouldn't normally look twice at a woman candidate. They all have a sneaking admiration for her," he said.
The hardworking campaign team was having a difficult job keeping up with Ms Rodgers, whose bright-red woollen coat always seemed to be a few doors ahead of everybody else.
"She just knows how to win people over," said Harold, the driver of Ms Rodgers's dark-red campaign Land Rover, lovingly named the "Bridmobile". Harold was from Portadown, Co Armagh, Ms Rodgers's former constituency. "I was actually meant to go on holiday this week, but you don't mind doing it for Brid," he added. Ms Rodgers emerged from beneath the opulent hanging baskets of another little terraced house. "The wee man in there is blind, God love him," she told her canvassers. "He told me he would always be thinking of me now. I really hope his wife didn't mind!"
The Minister said she was overwhelmed by the friendly response in working class estates such as Centenary Way, which would be natural Sinn Fein territory.
The next house proved to be one of those "hard cases". An elderly man said he had not voted in 12 years.
"You and 12,000 others. That's how you have winded up with Willie Thompson," she reprimanded him.
"You lot, you only knock on my door at election time. I never see you otherwise," he argued.
"Have you ever looked for us?" she retorted, pushing forward a slightly sheepish-looking Mr Byrne. "This is your man, your local representative. Anything you need done you come to him."
A little while later, Ms Rodgers and her team gathered in the SDLP constituency office for a "war cabinet". The good news was there were indications that both pro-agreement Ulster Unionists and Alliance voters, whose candidate had just withdrawn, might turn out for the SDLP. The bad news was that Sinn Fein seemed to think it had up to 3,000 new votes up its sleeve, leaving the SDLP wondering about their origin.
"Anybody for tea?" asked one of the female canvassers. "We have already ordered off Tim," replied Ms Rodgers, referring to one of the party's young spin doctors. "Just make sure he isn't the one actually making it!"
Tim came in to announce that the SDLP billboard had arrived - another photo opportunity for Ms Rodgers. "First they offer you tea and then they don't let you finish it," she said with a grin as she dutifully stepped out into the rain again.