BOB DOLE's "Citizenship's Plane" leaves Washington 30 minutes earlier than planned for Newark where he is to march in the Columbus Day parade, the St Patrick's Day of the big Italian community.
Dole sits with his aides reading newspapers at the front of the chartered Boeing 727: the Secret Service agents sit in the middle, and the press at the back.
Again the news for Dole is bad. Polls show him trailing badly, and his campaign is dithering over whether he should go for the Clinton jugular over "character" in this week's final presidential debate.
But Dole comes down the steps of the plane smiling to greet supporters, and the bus cavalcade takes off to join the parade. Newark is a Democratic stronghold, and Clinton banners abound, but Dole tries to woo the Italian vote by recalling his war service and wounds in Italy and the "profound impact" this had on his life. He thanks Christopher Columbus for being a "great American" as well as an Italian.
Dole is accompanied by the Republican Governor, Christine Todd Whitman, who confounded the opinion polls and the pundits in 1994 to win in New Jersey with the promise of tax cuts. The Dole camp sees her as a symbol of what he can still do in the presidential election.
Dole signs off with "Buon giorno, buon giorno", but the crowds are sparse and not enthusiastic. He heads for the more Republican county of Somerset.
On the press bus lunch boxes are distributed as we make slow progress along roads crowded with Sunday traffic.
But it is a beautiful autumn day, and the crowds gathered in front of the white stone court house in Somerville are all waving Dole/Kemp posters with "15%" on the back, a reference to Dole's promised tax cut.
"Welcome to the Bill Clinton retirement party". Dole greets the crowd of several hundred. Clinton supporters at the back of the crowd begin chanting Four more years but Dole tells them that they'll get the tax cut as well as Clinton "after he's left the White House".
Referring to the upcoming debate Dole asks: "Should we get tougher with Clinton?" As the crowd roars "Yes", Dole waits and then adds: "Well, we're thinking about it".
To illustrate his pledge to reform the legal system he tells the now old joke that as he was falling off a faulty election platform a few weeks ago, his mobile phone rang and it was a lawyer saying. I think we have a case here, Bob". It goes down well.
Dole has often accused Clinton, of scaring voters with threats of what a Republican win would mean.
"For Bill Clinton every day is Hallowe'en. Scare somebody today, scare some senior citizen, scare some veterans, scare some teachers, scare somebody," Dole recites.
"The biggest scare I have is if he's elected another four years. Hold on to your wallets and everything that's not nailed down because he's coming after it."
As red, white and blue balloons are released over the courthouse and children run to catch the miniature flags parachuting down from fireworks, the Dole cavalcade moves on to the third and last stop at Hamilton.
The mimics in the press bus take off Dole's flat Kansas accent and repetitious style. As we pass a cemetery, they sing out: "You're all going to get your tax cut tax cut, tax cut.
Dole's agonising over whether to "get tougher with Clinton" draws sarcastic remarks about him playing Hamlet.
At the Kuser Farm Park, a three piece rock group is revving up the crowds as a giant teddy bear prances around on the stage. This time there is not a Clinton supporter in sight. But one Dole supporter has a placard warning. Bozo, don't threaten Dole with a baseball bat", a reference to a job Clinton made when presented with a bat which he said could be "useful" in the next debate.
Dole makes virtually the same speech, tells the same jokes.
"You won't get mad with me if I get a little tougher with Clinton?" he asks the crowd as if they were kids at a pantomime. "No", they roar.
Dole then introduces a football hero from the Pittsburgh Steelers as a model for young people to encourage them to stay off drugs. "Alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, you don't need them."
Doe refers again to his adviser Yogi Berra and his warning that "it ain't over till it's over". In other words there is still time in spite of the poor polls.
As I head for the bus, a woman in a Dole T shirt says: "You in the media might find this boring but for us it's a very exciting meeting." It turns out that her daughter has just spent a year in UCD studying English and she reads The Irish Times which her investment firm gets every day.
As we get off the plane at Washington and Dole waves us goodbye, a woman reporter from one of the biggest newspaper chains says: "I've been covering this campaign to months. It's going nowhere and I'm bored out of my mind."
he said it. I didn't.