Elections are like marathons. The presidential campaign, with its unprecedented six-week leadin, was even more so. Mary Banotti always seemed to have the qualities needed for such a slog - the determination to hang in there, the energy to keep on keeping on.
But somewhere in the last week of this campaign, she hit her own personal wall. When a move into a higher gear was required, Banotti fizzled. The younger legs of Mary McAleese were powering on ahead and, when it was most needed, the Fine Gael candidate had nothing more to offer.
The result is no disgrace for Banotti. Her first-preference tally of 29.3 per cent is close to the 29.9 per cent Fine Gael achieved in the June election. Effectively, she has consolidated the party's position, while in the process throwing the Labour Party into even greater disarray.
Yet there will be begrudgers, even within the party. The same people who withheld the Fine Gael nomination she so actively sought and saw to it that she only won the run-off against Avril Doyle by a vote or two will say: "I told you so".
Banotti emerged from the second division of politics - defeat in Dail and Seanad elections, and 13 years in the Cinderella of parliaments in Strasbourg - and now she has come second in a presidential election.
Banotti fought the good fight when party elders like Garret FitzGerald and Peter Barry declined to enter the battle. By hoovering up women's, liberal and urban votes, she saw off the challenge from Adi Roche more effectively than any other Fine Gael candidate could have done.
Yet on the same stage as Mary McAleese, Banotti was outshone. On television, she frequently seemed flustered and even deferential towards the self-composed Fianna Fail candidate. The cameras harshly reminded voters that she was the oldest woman in the field. And her instinctive good manners prevented any direct attempts to tackle McAleese.
And then there was the John Bruton factor. Like the rest of his party, he showed little interest in her campaign in the early stages. Then, when her poll ratings had gone up, he joined the fray to disastrous effect.
The Fine Gael leader says his intervention was spurred by Gerry Adams's endorsement of McAl eese and not by anything about the ail candidate herself. The distinction, if there is one, was lost on the voters. The public perception was clear. Bootboy Bruton was seen to be doing the dirty work, while Banotti went on smelling of roses and acting presidential. The perception may be unfair, particularly to Banotti, but it stuck.
Even then, as public opinion rallied behind McAleese, Banotti had a chance to reverse the trend. However, she was unable to change the habits of the previous month. Her entire campaign was based on the avoidance of controversy in favour of intensive canvassing, success through hand shakes rather than hard arguments.
That was fine when things were going her way. In the first few weeks, they were. After a sluggish start, when Adi Roche peaked at 38 per cent in the polls, Banotti quickly made up the ground. Her dismissal of Roche's plans for a "musical wonderland" for children in the Aras was splashed on the front page of the Evening Herald.
Each new poll showed her making up more ground. In Dublin, she was leading. Banotti was on something of a roll, as people responded enthusiastically to her during the course of long journeys throughout Ireland.
Then the mistakes started. Her decision not to use posters has only counted in the last weeks of the campaign, just when it mattered most. McAleese, as well as being on television, is on every lamp-post, and Banotti is nowhere to be seen.
Then, on Questions & Answers, Banotti referred to Fianna Fail "having to go to the North" to find a candidate. It was a slip of the tongue, which might have been forgiven if Northern Ireland hadn't gone on to become the central issue in the campaign.
With Dublin seemingly secure, Banotti and her campaign managers, Phil Hogan TD and Colm Brophy, concentrated on the rest of the State. Over the six weeks she clocked up thousands of miles in the most intensive canvass of any of the candidates.
As part of this strategy, Banotti made constant reference to the fact that she is a descendant of Michael Collins. In every council chamber or local museum, pictures of Collins were dusted down for the arrival of his grandniece.
But some observers feel this strategy was ill-conceived. Little was heard of Banotti's record in politics, perhaps because her handlers feared the fallout from her voting record on liberal issues. The result, however, was that the image of the Fine Gael candidate remained fuzzy in the minds of many voters.
In mid-campaign, her canvass was interrupted for a few days by a tragic accident in Co Tipperary, when an oncoming car crashed into the Banotti convoy, resulting in the death of a local woman. However, the accident had no longer-term effect on her campaign.
Banotti, who gets a kick from getting out and meeting people, has clearly enjoyed her campaign. She may find it hard to return to the quieter waters of the European Parliament, but with Fine Gael in opposition she doesn't have many options at the moment.
But there is, after all, Strasbourg. Coming second in a highprofile presidential campaign will do no harm at all to Banotti's prospects in the European elections in 1999.