The SDLP has put its destiny into its mirrored version of Fianna Fail's 2002campaign, writes Liam Reid.
For any veteran of last year's general election in the Republic, there is an almost overwhelming sense of déjà vu at the SDLP's election headquarters in Belfast.
A political hack from the South might be prone to a flashback or two because the SDLP set-up is not so much a copy as a clone of Fianna Fáil's much-vaunted Mount Street media centre. Like Mount Street, the SDLP media centre on Donegall Square may be temporary, but it is designed with the sole purpose of fighting a modern 21st-century campaign.
Located on the third floor of (the unfortunately named for the SDLP) Imperial House, almost all of the high-tech bag of tricks used by Fianna Fáil in 2002 has been replicated. There is an impressive array of technology, including a state-of-the-art sound and lighting system and electronic screens, all providing clinical control on how the SDLP's message comes across.
On the face of it, the only difference is that where the Soldiers of Destiny served croissants and Danishes to the hungry hacks, the contents of a Crawfords biscuit barrel are all that's on offer with tea and coffee from the SDLP.
However it appears to have copied to the last detail Fianna Fáil's doomsday election manual, on which two years were spent perfecting it before that campaign was launched. For some months, the chief authors of that manual, former party general secretary, Martin Mackin and Peter MacDonagh, a former adviser to the Taoiseach, have been advising the SDLP on its campaign.
Now consultants for hire, they were the chief strategists behind Fianna Fáil's last campaign, culling and using sophisticated electioneering techniques gleaned from New Labour and US political consultants and adapting them to an Irish setting of a proportional representation election.
Every day of the SDLP campaign seems to be planned meticulously, while strategies road-tested by Fianna Fáil are also evident, including "rope a dope" and "rapid rebuttal".
The first involved issuing statements and predicting the opposition's response, thus driving the agenda. The latter has been described as a "snowball factory" and involves backroom figures coming up with a phalanx of press officers to "throw them". Experienced political media handlers from the Republic, including former Progressive Democrats adviser Jack Murray, have been brought in to "throw" the snowballs.
The SDLP is undoubtedly hoping to emulate Fianna Fáil's success in gaining nearly 50 per cent of Dáil seats with less than 42 per cent of the vote. It needs to pull off a similar feat if it is to hold on to its place as the largest nationalist party in the Assembly against Sinn Féin which in 2001 had a larger share of the vote.
The importation by the SDLP of "southern spin muscle", as it is being called, is all the more unusual in a political scene with parties renowned for their ability to sell a political message.
Sinn Féin still has one of the most sophisticated media machines around, with figures such as Danny Morrison, who authored the ballot box in one hand strategy of the 1980s and who is still behind the scenes. With Gerry Adams fund-raising in the US and Martin McGuinness appearing before the Bloody Sunday inquiry for most of last week, its campaign has been limited to date.
The Ulster Unionist Party's media team is small and well-regarded in Belfast, Dublin and London. It consists of Stephen King, David Trimble's popular adviser, and just one press officer, Alex Benjamin.
Meanwhile, in its east Belfast headquarters, the DUP appears to have been taken over by a fit of moderation as it attempts to woo more unionist voters.
Its media campaign is driven by 20-something former Young Unionist members of the UUP, who are in the ascendancy in the DUP's backroom, having defected in protest at Mr Trimble's pro-agreement stance. These include Timothy Johnson, the party's director of communications policy, and Simon Hamilton, both former presidents of Queen's University Unionist Association.
For the moment, the effectiveness of the SDLP's tactics, or of any of the other parties for that matter, is not yet apparent. Last week, election news items were not making the main stories in either the print or broadcast media.
Indeed, some believe the biggest single factor will be the weather rather than any media or spin tactics. It is the first winter election in nearly two decades in the Northern and, as David Trimble has noted, bad weather is the biggest fear facing the politicians.