Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Heather Humphreys came out of retirement to contest the Presidential Election. It showed. The Fine Gael candidate’s campaign was slow out of the blocks and stuttered along, notable only for its negativity.

Catherine Connolly, in contrast, was contemplating the presidency for at least a year. That was evident, too. She gained momentum since declaring in July and built a movement around her, like a referendum campaign on social issues.

At the outset, Humphreys was weak in the first television debate that involved all three candidates, including Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin.

Maybe, in trying to look presidential, Humphreys refrained from getting stuck in on that Virgin Media debate. That was a mistake. To most viewers the Monaghan woman looked uninterested. And who could blame her? A month earlier Humphreys was a retiree, looking forward to pottering about her garden and enjoying her grandchildren.

The only thing presidential on her mind was how and when she’d muck in to help the campaign of party colleague Mairéad McGuinness.

When the MEP pulled out citing health reasons, Humphreys answered her party’s call. But by the time she got into her stride in debates, many voters had already decided they were voting for the Independent Galway West TD.

To claw back Connolly’s head start, Fine Gael got dirty. The kitchen sink was flung.

Though Humphreys wasn’t personally ‘smearing the bejaysus’ out of Connolly, a tactic suggested by former Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates, many in the party were.

In later television and radio appearances, Humphreys became more combative. This earned her plaudits in some media outlets obsessed with the ‘bloodsport’ of politics. It’s in media interest to portray the race as being ‘all to play for’ because a ‘close’ horse-race narrative keeps audiences interested. Ratings – or online clicks – are helped too by candidates having a go at each other, even if that does not illuminate voters on choice.

And while debate attacks on Connolly rallied the Fine Gael troops, to many undecided or wavering voters it fed the narrative that the Humphreys camp was engaged in nasty, negative campaigning.

In an attack video, released online last Sunday, the self-professed party of law and order took a sledgehammer to the cab-rank rule for barristers that ensures equal access to justice. A low blow that smacked of desperation.

With all the negativity, it was hard to picture what seven years of Heather Humphreys in the Áras would look like.

Contrast that to Connolly who was authentic, sincere. Voters knew what she stood for, whether they agreed or not. But Humphreys was defined by what she wasn’t – she wasn’t Catherine Connolly – rather than any positive vision for the presidency.

The irony will not be lost on the Connolly camp. Throughout her almost 25-year Dáil and City Council career, Catherine Connolly has been labelled and portrayed as ‘negative’ and ‘anti-everything’ by her Fine Gael rivals and other detractors, including in Fianna Fáil.

And now it’s their relentless negativity, coupled with her own positive vision for Ireland, that has her on the cusp of being elected to the highest office in the land if today’s vote pans out as opinion polls suggest. Karma’s a bitch!

Pictured: Catherine Connolly among the large number of people taking part in the Cycle for Catherine Connolly for President round trip from the Claddagh to Blackrock last Sunday.