It would appear at this stage just three weeks before the Presidential election, that this race is anyones. (Well bar Dana's! ).
We have had a host of Presidential hopefuls visit our city in the past week or 10 days and all of them are fabulous! They are walking the streets, meeting and greeting, kissing babies and generally spreading the love.
So far we here at the Kilkenny Advertiser have met Gay Mitchell, Michael D, David Norris and Sean Gallagher. I'm assuming we will be graced with the presence of Mary Davis, Dana and Martin McGuinness before the campaign comes to an end.
Each and every one of the candidates have their own strong qualities but unlike other years, I'm not sure there is one that stands out from the crowd. The word on the ground is that people are undecided still as to who they will vote for because not one of the candidates is more appealing than the other.
Michael D Higgins is now topping the polls, knocking David Norris off his perch (where had comfortably sat for the past few weeks ). Indeed, Norris has had quite a fall from top of the poll to third last in the ranks at this time yesterday.
He was well received in Kilkenny on Monday but he was not aware at that stage that his poll ratings were taking a nose dive.
Anyone who met Senator Norris said that he was a charismatic and vivacious man who would make a great president. However, these comments are not being represented in the polls at present.
Gay Mitchell is not impressing even the party followers by the sounds of things and the polls are reflecting this. It goes to show that the role of President is not considered a political one.
Sean Gallagher has been the biggest surprise this week , taking second place in the Red C poll yesterday. During the televised debates, he would have come across as a little under-prepared —particularly on the role of government and legislation, however, he does appear to have appealed to the general public; and his jobs and community agenda are hitting the right notes with the general public.
Martin McGuinness is doing well since he declared, and he declared his interest quite late in the game. He has a certain following and this can be clearly seen in the number of Sinn Fein TDs who were elected in the last general election. Some people might never have thought that a former member of the IRA could become President of Ireland, however, this particular representative could well prove them wrong. He is polling well and has managed to represent himself admirably during debates and along his campaign to date. Hopefully he will visit Kilkenny and we can also have a chat with him about his hopes for the presidency.
This leaves us with Mary Davis and Dana — neither of whom have been to Kilkenny as of yet and so I am judging them from their performances on the live debates. The most important matter on Dana’s agenda seems to be protecting what one might call a flawed constitution. Why, one might wonder!? Why does it need protection? I think most would agree that there is a lot about our constitution that could do with updating. So I think Dana will not be doing it for me.
As regards Mary Davis, I’m not convinced by her performance to date. She is somewhat insipid but she does have the name Mary going for her and that seems to have worked for the previous two presidents!
All in all I think the next President has hugely impressive boots to fill. Both Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson were admirable presidents and it is little wonder that none of the up and coming candidates appear to make the mark. I think that whoever is successful will need to make the presidency their own in their own way as we as a public have grown to expect a lot of our president.
It’s all to play for as they say and three weeks is a long time in the race for the Aras!
