Daily Fix: Tuesday

The highs and lows of today’s campaign trail: Rockabilly and chair jokes lightened the hustings today but there’s no escaping the looming shadow cast by the leaders’ debate at 8pm tonight…

EVERY evening, TheJournal.ie brings your Daily Fix: our pick of the highlights (and some of the lows) of today’s campaign trail.

GOOD DAY FOR:

Chairs – One lucky armchair will get its 15 minutes of fame this evening if TV3 acquiesces to Enda Kenny’s request to have a ‘symbolic’ empty seat replace him in the leaders’ debate. TheJournal.ie is at the Ballymount studio and will report back on the seating situation on our live blog and our live tweet account @thejournal_live
Fine Gael – There was speculation (and fear?) that TV3 terrier Vincent Browne would turn up to the Fine Gael press conference this morning at their election HQ to ‘harangue’ Enda and co. on the day of the debate. He didn’t.

BAD DAY FOR:

Public Servants – Enda Kenny gave cold comfort to the 30,000 employees who would be laid off or retired as part of the Fine Gael reform plan for the public sector: it would cost the State €1bn to carry out the party’s plan.
Procrastination – Today was the deadline for getting on the Supplementary Register of Electors if you’re not already registered to vote. If you didn’t manage to get your Garda-stamped form to your local authority’s office by close of business today then, sorry, you’ll be watching election day from the sidelines.
Tom McEllistrim – the Fianna Fail candidate in Kerry North-West Limerick was involved in a car crash on his way to Tralee to give his nomination papers to the constituency’s returning officer. Thankfully, he was not seriously hurt in the accident.

LEAST SUBTLE LAUNCH LOCATION OF THE DAY: Sinn Fein launched its proposals to create more jobs for young people at a particularly emotive site… the Jeanie Johnston famine ship on Dublin’s North Wall quay.

ROCKABILLY CAMPAIGN SONG OF THE DAY: The perky ‘Dillon’s Gonna Win’ has been helping to promote the merits of independent Co Limerick candidate John Dillon through a cocktail of boogie woogie vocals, twangy guitar and a chorus that repeats ’Vote for John Dillon’ (fade out…)