James Lawless – View from the Tracks

The dust is finally starting to settle and life is beginning to return to normality, for me anyway. Not having been successful in last week’s outing, it was back to the office last week and back to the grindstone after all the roller-coaster of the previous weeks and months. Sat down yesterday afternoon for my first free afternoon in months to watch the Munster hurling semi-final only to get a message that there were still posters left up at Johnstown and Ballycane so was off again with the step ladder and the clippers for hopefully the last time.

I put in a huge effort and I would say I got to every corner of the constituency. Maybe not every house but most of them and I genuinely enjoyed meeting the people and hearing the stories. I certainly know my way around the place much better now and have a far fuller grasp of all the local issues. Regrettably I’m not in a great position to tackle those issues, not being elected, but I will hold my head high with a result that was very respectable under the circumstances (just under a thousand first preferences) and on a normal day might well have been elected with any bit of bounce at all. It’s always difficult for a first-timer and obviously this was a particularly difficult year for anyone running on a Fianna Fáil ticket. But as I said at the start, you pick and you stick, and my colours were nailed to the mast many moons ago. Doesn’t mean I endorse the government’s every move but it does mean I have a loyalty and a long term belief in the party as historically the best to lead this country.

Looking back over the past year, I’ve been wondering what I might have done differently. The answer is probably not a lot. I was quite happy with my canvass schedule, my communications plan worked well where I could control it (I did notice a media ‘blackout’ towards the end as my releases rarely made it to print, the rare exception being sensationalised often inaccurate splashes) but most things went as wished.

A few things I might note for the next time in no particular order and certainly not exhaustive;

1. Befriend a builder or buy a banger
Nope, nothing to do with brown envelopes or rezoning. All to do with logistics and vehicular choice. I used our not new, but respectable 04 family saloon for campaigning and alas the poor car is almost beat from step ladders, pot holes, scratches and scrapes. Family cars just aren’t made for lugging boxes of leaflets, clippers, cable ties, ladders, posters, etc etc around the place day in, day out. Also if I didn’t know every pot hole in the place from hearing about them on the doorsteps, I knew from driving through them as I hazarded roads where oxen never dared. Our loyal transporter is still going and served me well, but a van, jeep or well suspended banger might be a better choice if I was owt again.

2. Posters don’t win votes
I never really thought they did. But I did panic a few times and wonder. I would say I was about the median in the postering stakes, definitely not the most profligate but not the lowest either. I can say with certainty that I polled higher than candidates with more posters but equally some candidates with more posters polled higher than me. So no scientific conclusion as such. I think posters are necessary to remind / inform people you are in the race, but above a certain threshold, the return / reward probably drops off or levels out completely. There is an argument that they favour new candidates or are necessary for name recognition, this is possible although a good canvass should do the same thing. Personally I wouldn’t have a problem if there was a total ban, as long as it was observed by all (unlike the Naas town centre ban, which was casually ignored by Labour for example. I wasn’t at the protocol meeting either but I knew well enough we weren’t supposed to poster there – not that it made much difference in the end anyhow.)

3. Canvassing at weekends
This is a difficult one. I spent several Saturdays and bank holidays out knocking on doors with very little return, nobody home. I always thought well if I win by 50 votes that was worth it, but on mature reflection would it have been better to recharge the batteries or do something else rather than pounding all those uninhabited pavements on bank holiday weekends. Hard one to call. The last night or two I was fit to drop so arguably some R&R might have been a better strategy and pace things for the end.

Anyway that’s just a few reflections from the trail. I’m sure more thoughts will cross my mind after. One thing for sure, this blog isn’t going away, whilst I enjoyed being an election candidate (loved it at times) it’s still only one part of my persona. I very much intend to stay active in politics and DV will have another day at the polls, but I will likely talk about lots more in between.

Thanks again to all who supported me, at the polls or otherwise, and remember, it’s down but not out!