THE WEEK started with a large dose of frayed nerves. The non appearance of politicians on the Questions & Answers programme last Sunday was a clear example of how close a call this election will be.
The Opposition cried foul when it found it would be outnumbered on the panel. Apparently as a last resort RTE was proposing a three Government and two Opposition panel. Drapier cannot for the life of him understand how the normal panel of four contributors was not acceptable to all, with the Opposition having two and the Government haying two. Maybe someone in RTE or in the parties would enlighten him. Drapier notes that this tried and trusted four person panel is in place for this week. Why not last week?
The difficulties between the PDs and Fianna Fail seemed to be calmed on Sunday by the meeting between Bertie Ahern and Mary Harney, and it looked as if all was rosy in the garden for them up to the end of the election, only for Fianna Fail's John Browne of Wexford to lob in a grenade. He criticised the PDs' alliance with Fianna Fail, but he was quickly slapped down by Bertie, who pulled no punches.
The Government itself was no better, with individual parties apparently going in different directions over the North. A number of issues in the election, like abortion and the North, have tended to be taboo, but inconsistencies can reverse this. The Government seems to be split on the abortion issue too, in that Democratic Left and Lab our want legislation while the Taoiseach is prepared to let the matter rest and put it up to the anti abortionists to come up with a suitable wording.
Mary Harney seems to have been reined in by Bertie on this topic, though she does have a point when she says that the issue should be discussed rather than have a veil drawn over it.
The polls have brought a spring into the step of the Opposition parties on the campaign trail, while there are also some morsels of good news for the Government.
Fianna Fail seems to have dispelled the myth that its support must always fall in the course of the campaign by maintaining a solid percentage lead for the last number of weeks.
The big problem for the Government seems to be the fluctuating fortunes of the Labour Party. Most of us knew from a long time ago that this election would hinge on the fortunes of Labour.
Drapier has received the impression on the doorsteps that very few voters really believe all the promises from the political parties about tax reductions. It's a case of beware of politicians bearing gifts. They are wondering why all these goodies weren't given to them over the last number of years. There is no doubt that there is a general mood of "eaten bread is soon forgotten".
One of the issues that keeps coming up is crime. Whereas the voters seem to believe that none of the parties will do anything on the issue of tax, Drapier feels that whichever party can reassure them on crime will succeed. While the figures may suggest that the level of crime is falling, Drapier cannot ever remember in his long line of elections as many people raising the hopelessness of their situation regarding burglaries, break ins and assaults.
Drapier has also noticed a shift in the type of electioneering which has been going on, particularly in regard to advertising. The first one Drapier noticed was the Fine Gael advertisement showing a can of petrol marked FF and a lighted match marked PD. Bertie Ahern took grave exception to this but Fianna Fail followed with an ad showing a picture of a cow with the information for Proinsias De Rossa and Dick Spring "this is a cow". Drapier is not sure if this type of advertising goes down that well with the punters.
On another level, the election seems to have moved up a gear in that the Government parties are tending to try and "put the fear of God" into the minds of voters that a government with PD involvement will "bring the house down on top of us all". However, it is quite obvious from the polls that the electorate is not falling for this.
Drapier knows that the Lab our Party had a view that its fortunes might be helped by Tony Blair's victory and yet this does not seem to have happened. In fact the Blair factor seems to have rubbed off on Bertie Ahern, whose popularity is on the up and up. It was because of this upsurge in support that the Government parties seem to have decided to "change tack".
John Bruton came out on Thursday with an astonishingly personalised attack on the Fianna Fail leader. This was, in Drapier's opinion, very "un-John-Bruton-like".
Drapier does not know who is advising the Taoiseach, but he would very much question this type of tactic. Fianna Fail says that Bruton's attack is a sign of desperation, in that the Government now sees that unless it does something dramatic in the last few days, all is lost.
The Government now says the much vaunted televised debate between the Taoiseach and Bertie Ahern on the Wednesday before the election will be held too late for anyone to be dramatically influenced one way or the other. Drapier questions why then it agreed to this timing in the first place.
Finally, Drapier got in from the hustings early on Thursday night to see the Prime Time piece about Independents.
Drapier thinks it was ironic in the extreme to hear Michael Lowry, a man who for many a long year was one of the State's most entrenched party politicos, speak glowingly about the role of Independents in Irish political life.
Drapier will refrain from national predictions. All he is interested in is whether he himself makes it.