BABIES bawled. Balloons burst. Yawning young party faithful pulled at shirtsleeves and begged to be brought home. The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, turned his attention to late teenage and 20 something voters in Dublin's Temple Bar yesterday and almost succeeded in inducing happy slumber.
Even one of the Young Fine Gaelers acknowledged it, arms aching as he held up a party poster of a youthful candidate, the baby faced Senator Brian Hayes, of course. "A bit low key, isn't it?"
The volunteer groaned from the back of a selective crowd - a crowd which had obviously not wandered into Meeting House Square by accident.
Bring back Nora," muttered one of his colleagues, in a tribute to the warm up minutes earlier by the deputy leader. Why, Ms Owen had even managed to claim credit for the weather. Speaking from the platform after a rousing welcome by jazz band, Cover Story, the justice minister had managed to cover all angles.
"And when the rain comes after the shower . . . just don't let that shower hack in," she roared, to cheers. Some of those present might be "too young" to recognise a number played by the musicians - Who's Sorry Now. But that "other crowd" would be singing that tune in a few days' time, she said.
Any good political jokes? "Yes, Fianna Fail and the PDs," Ms Owen continued. The Taoiseach now was going to be "the Taoiseach next week, the Taoiseach in a year" and five years down the road. And, what's more, she said, as young colleagues like Michael Joe Cosgrave and Joe Doyle and Austin Currie stood behind her, the party had some of the "best looking candidates" in the campaign.
Modelled on a US presidential election rally, the event yesterday afternoon had been billed as "the Vision Thing".
"Bypass" was the soundbite ... sorry, metaphor for the day. Earlier, the Taoiseach, Mrs Finola Bruton and their four children had walked around the fountains in St Stephen's Green for a photocall.
"Do we want the motorway bypass to become the symbol of our 21st century?" the Taoiseach asked the Meeting House Square rally, referring to his recent ribboncutting engagement in Portlaoise. "A bypass on which the majority with good cars can travel in the fast lane ... but on which a big minority will never travel at all?"
No, the metaphor for 21st century Ireland must be something else. It must be "the gathering in of all our people". It must mean "going out into byways, and up the side streets", to ensure that everybody was brought in to share in the prosperity.
It was back to the weather again at the evening press conference in the Clarence Hotel - the weather, the issues, the soundbites and the seemingly evergreen Michael Lowry. A relaxed Mr Bruton forecast a following wind that would return this Government to power. This election campaign was about "jobs and mortgages".
