Kenny hopeful of Obama-like fightback

CAMPAIGN:FINE GAEL'S presidential candidate Gay Mitchell can fight back from low poll figures just as Barack Obama went from having "no hope" as a senate candidate in 2004 to become senator.

When asked if Mr Mitchell was underperforming compared to his party in the polls, Enda Kenny said: “I started to read the other night the book by [Barack] Obama’s campaign manager, Audacity to Win, and when he went for the US senate position in the first place, he was rated as a nonentity with no hope whatever of being elected”.

“I am not comparing our campaign to [that of] President Obama, but what I am saying is that in politics you fight through to the end, and for us it is a brilliant opportunity to bring our candidate – the Fine Gael candidate – to the forefront of the people,” he said while campaigning in Galway.

“He’s got all of the characteristics and qualities that would make an outstanding presidency. Here in the rain in Galway it’s self-evident the numbers that have turned out to meet him, “he added.

Barack Obama received 70 per cent of the vote in the 2004 Senate race compared to 27 per cent for his Republican rival, Alan Keyes. Keyes joined the race after the party’s original candidate Jack Ryan was forced out by a scandal. Obama’s Senate campaign received another boost when he was chosen to deliver the keynote speech at that year’s Democratic National Congress.

Mr Mitchell told reporters that we need “cash flow and confidence . . . The Government is dealing with the cash flow problem, and the president can work with the government of the day to restore confidence. That’s what will bring jobs and enterprise to our country.”