Upfront Banotti builds on her assets and boosts claim for Park

What a difference an opinion poll makes. Wednesday's Irish Times poll pushed Mary Banotti up into second place and halved her odds at the bookies. The only candidate to increase her support in the poll now has a realistic chance of winning this contest. The challenge now is to put daylight between herself and Adi Roche, and then to stitch up a solid vote-transfer pact with Roche and maybe Derek Nally in the final days of the campaign.

In computer terms, Banotti is a WYSIWYG candidate: What You See Is What You Get. She might have had her hair done and bought a few new skirts, but basically she is the same woman who has been slogging away for Fine Gael in Strasbourg since 1984.

So no makeovers, no airy-fairy language. She is upfront about her background. Her former husband, last seen 24 years ago, even gets a namecheck in Banotti's brochure. Solidity, however unspectacular, is turning out to be an unexpected asset in this campaign.

Political experience is also counting. The enthusiasm of Fine Gael handlers has grown as they realise she is the candidate least likely to drop a clanger, and should perform well in the television debate.

Local TDs have started to turn out in greater numbers when she shows up in their area. Banotti is a little-known quantity outside Dublin and Cork, so it was no surprise that her travels this week took in the rural heartlands of Offaly, Roscommon and Longford.

Press adviser Mary Cummins travels everywhere with her candidate, tape-recording any interviews "just in case". Anne Hennon, who works for Banotti in the European Parliament, helps out. Her daughter, Tania, an assiduous canvasser all week, is going back to her job with the UN in the Gaza Strip, but will return for the final fortnight of the campaign.

And that's it. The Banotti roadshow is low on razzmatazz. No posters, of course, but also no leaflets to hand out, no rosettes, no gimmickry, so far at least.

Down at the ploughing championships during the week, the small Banotti team was quickly lost in the huge crowds. In contrast, there was no mistaking the arrival of Mary McAleese in a swirl of big cars, television cameras and expert Fianna Fail crowd-working.

The real aim of the tours around the country is to get into the local media. Visits provide photo opportunities for the local papers, and maybe interviews on local radio stations. At various times during the week, the Banotti team claims Mary McAleese was ducking head-to-head confrontation on the airwaves, but the Fianna Fail candidate denies this.

While not introducing many new ideas of her own, Banotti has chipped away at some of her rivals' claims. You don't need to be highly educated to be president, she insists, with McAleese's credentials as a law professor in mind. The Presidency is a serious post, she chides Adi Roche.

Her handlers fret that the other candidates get more attention from the photographers. That may be the lot of a Cinderella candidate. But with more confidence than they had a week ago, they believe her time may yet come on the big day.