Election strategy - With power at stake, splurge not beyond FF

WITH the General Election only nine months away, the battle for the hearts and minds of voters is now under way in earnest and the salvos fired by Fianna Fáil in Mayo yesterday will be echoed by the Fine Gael-Labour alliance in Westmeath today.

Despite remarkably healthy exchequer returns, showing Government coffers literally awash with cash, prudence and sensible management are the watchword of the two-day FF think-in at Westport, aptly named Ireland’s tidiest town yesterday.

Effectively, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is getting down to the business of stiffening the resolve of nervous TDs for the forthcoming Dáil session and the electoral contest ahead. Backbenchers remain deeply concerned over a spate of negative opinion polls showing the party mired in the low to mid-30s, a rating that would see a high number of seat losses if mirrored on election day.