And they're rounding the first bend!

So after all the excitement of the nominations (well we don't get out as much as we used to) the election campaigns proper started today. Or did they? There was the feel of a phoney war about today, of people finding their feet, canvassers who looked a tad spooked, or maybe it was just a bit of hyperness, if someone asked them a question about their potentially great leader and so on. It will all settle down soon enough.

This election season much like the days of Calvin and Hobbes is just packed! We've had one solid barney which bordered on almost escalating into a legalistic bout already and we're barely in the foothills of this series of contests. They're mostly going to be the most competitive in years.

President
Mark Conway - Who? Did we miss him? Haven't seen any material so far. Or was he the yella paper lad?
Ruán Dillon McLoughlin - Christ those posters must have cost a few quid? Lovely paper like that doesn't grow on trees! Guess with the jobs market the way it is especially in construction isn't not a bad idea. Very well presented leaflets and sound solid ideas. Out of the traps early and looks a real contender.
Eamonn Gardiner - A good opening but perhaps not a great one. Looks like Eamonn is going to try and use the Big Mo' of the fees referendum to paint himself as the guardian of the working man or since we're talking about students the not-working hominid.

Chance has a real fight on his hands but he's been through enough of them. I suspect the wily old campaigner might just have enough in his arsenal to see of the young pretender but this battle will ebb and flow over the coming days. Could Mark Conway come up the middle? It will be harder for him to do so the more time that passes. He needs a big day tomorrow or he could find the gap to the big two too great to close.

DP/Welfare
No nominations as of close of business and so nominations will have to be opened again. That said we saw someone called Niamh pretending to be running for Welfare. Not sure if she was the foxy redhead but what the hey we liked what we saw!

Education
David James Collison Ryan - Christ picking a frakking name and stick to it! Who are ya Kareem Abdul Jabbar? You win some titles and then you can run about the place with 50 names, and 40 initials.
Aoife Finnerty - Looks competent, not inspirational but not too dull either. A good start.
Emma Kerins - Good material, a clear easily remembered image. Not quite setting the world on fire but that's not necessarily a bad thing to start off with.
Huw Thomas - Crushing the minister under his jackboot puts him firmly on the side of the 'aren't fee awful' campaign or maybe he is just advertising shoes? Still tying in with the fees debate (there is a debate right?) is topical and sensible. Will he ride that wave, or maybe go out with the tide!

Ok this one is going to be hard to get a handle on and we're going to avoid predictions, we may need until after the hustings to get a real feel for this contest.

Campaigns & Services
Darragh Bourke -
Fergal Dempsey - which one is the lad with the hair? We can't tell
Michelle Lawlor - Toyah Wilcox running for CSO?

If we're leaning anywhere it is towards Lawlor at this stage but it's early days yet.

Communications
David Dolphin - campaign appears delayed in kicking off which could be due to the uncertainty that was around whether it could kick off today. We expect to see a big push tomorrow.
Aoife Ni Raghallaigh - kinda lacking at this stage if you ask me but it could also be that she's holding back until tomorrow.

In the normal run of things we'd have rated Aoife from the outset as the favourite. Being as she is the insider, the one with all the connections to the existing line up and so on. So sh was the hot favourite as of 4.45pm last Friday evening but after the weekend that has just passed and the various lines of fallout that come of...what are we calling it? Clockgate? And with the rather weak campaign so far today we're very non-plussed. So we'd have been duty bound to revise our view of strong favourite early this morning and changed that rating in this race to being pretty close to neck and neck but Aoife will most likely have regrouped and recouped some ground as the day wore on. The real test for both is the next 48 hours, if one or other can establish a solid lead in the minds of student body than they could romp home on polling day. All to play for.

From all the contests we expect to see loads of bright coloured banners, capes, badges, lollipops, and with any luck naked people! Ok maybe asking for lollipops is a bit much but we can dream, we can dream.