It was billed as a beauty contest; now it's more akin to mud-wrestling. Three weeks into the campaign, and the damage inflicted on the political system and the national psyche is enormous. We're into a no-win scenario. Unionists say victory for Prof Mary McAleese will amount to a kick in the teeth for their community. But if she loses, Northern nationalists are certain to feel even further alienated from their supposed brethren in the South.
Fianna Fail is panicking. Just look at the extraordinary fracas in Galway on Sunday night, when Ministers and TDs manhandled journalists attempting to put questions to McAleese. There is paranoia, too, that the leaker damaging the party's candidate could be lurking within.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael is retreating into the kind of narrow antiSinn Fein politics that earned its leader the John Unionist jibe before he grew to statesmanship in the last government. Has anyone told John Bruton there is a ceasefire in the North?
By now, it's virtually McAleese versus the rest, David versus Goliath. But who is playing David and who is the giant?
Certainly, McAleese was unwilling to play the fall guy this week. At times, it seemed she was at war simultaneously with the unionists, Fine Gael, the SDLP and the media. But by the end of the week she had fought off many of these challenges, roped in John Hume, Brid Rodgers and the Irish News, however reluctantly, to her side of the argument, and emerged with her legendary self-confidence unshaken.
Yet the controversy raises serious questions for McAleese which have still not been answered. If, as many nationalists believe, the memos give an accurate and entirely defensible account of Northern nationalist thinking, why did McAleese feel the need to claim her views were distorted?
The memos outline contacts McAleese had with Sinn Fein leaders, yet she told The Late Late Show she was "not on speaking terms" with Gerry Adams.
McAleese goes down a bomb on the canvass. But it is no secret that her relations with the media are approaching zero-tolerance level, on both sides. And her claims of widespread unionist support have disintegrated in the face of attacks on her by Chris McGimpsey, Ken Maginnis and others.
Negative campaigning has been the distinguishing feature of this campaign.
Dana was trivialised before she'd even left the starting blocks, while Adi Roche was sunk in the first week. Derek Nally assisted in his own downfall, and now it has been the turn of Mary McAleese to bear the brunt of the most sustained attack faced by any candidate. Only Mary Banotti has avoided the flak.
Perhaps the negativity can be explained by the length of the campaign. And the fact the President has so few powers has produced a vacuum at the heart of the debate. This has encouraged the machinations of the leakers and the spin doctors.
That staple of a journalist looking for a story on a quiet day - a pre-election pact - has been ruled out on several occasions by most of the candidates. But in such a close-run race, this weekend's opinion polls might lead to a few miraculous conversions.
Television appearances and the muted debate on The Late Late Show have not proved as decisive as expected, but more media hustings are scheduled over the next few days.
The collateral damage of the campaign extends beyond the two main parties. The Progressive Democrats are split over McAleese's candidacy, even if she has the official endorsement of the party.
Labour may be viewing the election result with some trepidation. Adi Roche's election trail has been stuck in second gear throughout; although she has shown more mettle with time and avoided any further blunders, her campaign is a firework that has failed to ignite. A poor result is certain to increase the dissatisfaction within Labour and may put Dick Spring, her main backer, under some pressure.
Mary Banotti spent this week as every other; clocking up hundreds of miles, shaking as many hands as possible and keeping her head below the parapet. Fine Gael's strategy of being upfront from the start about her record and her past has helped to create the election's only unsullied candidate.
Derek Nally sought to recover the moral high ground after the disagreements within his camp the previous week. His support is strongest in his native south-east but patchy elsewhere.
Dana Rosemany Scallon kept away from all the fuss and earned respect for that. Whether this translates into votes is another matter. But at least we learned she isn't perfect: she told RTE's Gerry Ryan she swigged vodka at the age of 10, ran away from school to be a singer and used to drive without a licence.
Even now, this election is hard to call. As one of the candidates said yesterday: "Everyone is telling me they're going to vote for Mary. They just won't say which one."