Cute looks replaces cute hoors in survey of captivating candidates
But few of them are very cute looking. In truth, they usually are not attractive to anybody other than the man, or woman, in the mirror.
However, this election was supposed to change everything. Parties went for new blood, injecting a bit of lust into a campaign where the only love was the reluctant romance of Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.
Before the real prizes are allocated at count centres today, a targeted survey has anointed the cutest-looking campaigners in 2009.
Unsurprisingly, Emma Kiernan won. She was deemed “sincere and sexy looking”.
The Newbridge Fine Gael candidate’s unfortunate appearance in the photograph section of a friend’s Facebook page may have caused embarrassment, but it did give her a national profile.
The picture, which involved an obvious dance-floor grope, created a storm largely because its appearance was such a rarity in the repressed world of political debate.
She achieved 37% in the cute poll, twice the amount of her nearest rivals Toireasa Ferris of Sinn Féin and Maria Parodi of the Labour Party.
Both the Kerry Euro candidate in Ireland South and the council-hopeful in the Dublin South East ward had appeared on other polls and again got frequent mentions on account of their eye-friendly election posters.
Former member of the band Six and candidate in Cobh, Sinead Sheppard, came fourth with 9.85%.
The polls of the male candidates reveal a diverse taste, albeit with one overriding tactic to gain attention — open shirts.
On the online picture profile of the top three — Alan O’Kelly of Fine Gael, John Lyons, Labour, and Eoghan Murphy, Fine Gael — all went for the button-open approach.
Darren Keegan, the father-of-two who ran for Gorey Town Council, was the highest of the tie-wearing crew.
However, Keegan and others merely trailed in O’Kelly’s wake according to the survey carried out by Pigsback.com, that involved more than 1,000 participants.
O’Kelly ran for Naas Town Council and chaired his local Young Fine Gael branch for three years.
