Kildare byelection: The race for the Dáil is not for snoozers. Darren Scully spent two hours with his rivals on local radio yesterday morning, but it felt like 10 minutes.
By lunchtime the Fine Gael man and the other candidates were on RTÉ Radio.
Between broadcasts Scully went canvassing in Naas with party leader Enda Kenny. "The last three weeks have gone by extremely fast."
Come the weekend, the Naas councillor will resume his old life or begin a new career in the Dáil in the seat formerly occupied by Charlie McCreevy. There will be no time for rest before polling day on Friday.
While some in Fianna Fáil say privately that the game is already up for Áine Brady, many observers put Scully in mid-position behind the Independent, Catherine Murphy, and Labour's Paddy MacNamara. Kenny says that all four will be in contention and the outcome will be determined by transfers.
Fine Gael's front bench met in a Naas hotel yesterday morning. Amid thumbs-up signs and smiles on the streets afterwards, Kenny tells of a busy three weeks on the prowl for votes in Kildare North and Meath.
He likes campaigning. In visits to 200 houses in a town such as Naas, he says, a picture emerges of the issues that preoccupy voters.
There's been plenty of talk in this campaign about poor-quality schools and the health service, but Kenny seems taken by the image of the hard-pressed commuters who spend more time in their cars than they would like.
In snatches of chat amid his handshakes with the voters, Kenny tells of meeting a mother who came to her front door with a baby in one hand and a pizza slice in the other. Too busy to cook, he says. Too busy just getting by.
There are voters to greet. John O'Connell from Naas met Kenny last summer in a hotel in Connemara. "You owe me a pint," says O'Connell. "I owe you two pints," says Kenny.
Kenny and Scully move on. One man says there are five Fine Gael supporters in his home. "A nest of votes," Kenny says. He greets Mary Kelly. She voted Fianna Fáil before but she'll never give them another vote. "And I mean that sincerely," she says, promising to give Scully her first preference.
Why the turn away from Fianna Fáil? Mary says Dermot Ahern increased the TV licence, even though "there's nothing on the television". Martin Cullen went overboard on electronic voting, she says, and Charlie McCreevy closed down the Freedom of Information Act.
Paddy Sourke was painting a shopfront when Enda grabbed his hand.
"I don't see any blue in there," he says of the paint. It's all smiles but Sourke isn't telling anyone where his vote is going.
"I keep my vote to myself," he says.
We make for Poplar Square, where Kenny is going to put a bet on Scully in Celtic Bookmakers, owned by former Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates.
Kenny was tempted to phone Yates but was interrupted by a beep from Mary Kelly's car and another promise to vote Scully. Kenny puts €50 on Scully for the seat. "It's my own money. It's a euro, not from the Northern Bank."
At 7/2 the odds could be better for the Fine Gael candidate. But Scully says he is confident. "I think Celtic could be losing a lot of money." According to the sitting Fine Gael TD in the constituency, Bernard Durkan, the campaign will crystallise in the next two days. "Darren Scully is the man. Friday is the day," Durkan says to a voter. When another says she's from Meath and not Kildare, Durkan tells her "we've a fellow over there, too".
After a quick bowl of soup, Kenny was off to Leinster House. After that, he was off to Meath. There's never enough time.
