THE rain poured down on the sodden grass of the De La Salle playing fields and a woman activist remarked: "Listen here to me, she'd better have a good pair of brogues on her.
Mary Harney was due in Waterford for her sixth (or was it seventh?) flying visit to rally the cause of the party's hopeful in the constituency, Katharine Bulbulia.
Two nippy `Intercooler Turbo' jeeps buzzed up to join the reception committee, and their crews promptly set about lashing loudspeakers and party signboards to their roofs. "Put Mary in the driving seat," they read. But the PD leader and the candidate, due in by helicopter from Dungarvan, were late, and as the downpour continued the prospects of the planned walkabout were dwindling fast.
The constituency PRO, Christy Ryan ("Ryanair was my idea") scanned the ominously low cloud base and felt sympathy for the pilot: "I'd say, no more than 400 ft. He wouldn't be too pleased about it. But if he knows his way around..."
Finally, the little blue machine swooped out of the mist. Financial guru, Paddy Griffin, risked the soft turf in his Volvo to save the visitors from a drenching, and then it was off into town to catch the last of the shoppers.
A quick sprint around the City Square shopping centre, on the brink of closing time, turned up two cheering encounters. "Good luck. I think the tide is turning in your favour," said the first man the group intercepted.
A Kilkenny woman, looking amazed, grasped Ms Harney's hand and held on, saying: "I don't think I'll leave you go. I always admired you - a good speaker, afraid of no one." The Harney magic was turned on.
She told a coffee reception for the faithful that she intended "to be part of a government that will be more gender balanced than the present one". The PDs are desperately keen to recover the seat lost when Martin Cullen defected to Fianna Fail, and the bookies are beginning to hedge in their favour. Ms Bulbulia is 6:4 on to make the breakthrough.
"The response here on all my visits has been absolutely fantastic. I believe a substantial number of the floating votes will come to the PDs," Ms Harney said.
The real choice to form the next partnership government was between the PDs and Labour, she added, challenging Mr Dick Spring once again to face her in a head to head public debate.
Yesterday, she hopped between West Limerick, East Limerick, Dungarvan and Waterford, and faced another difficult helicopter journey back to Dublin last night.
Undaunted by the wash out occasioned by the weather, she promised: "I'll be back here in Waterford next week, and the week after that."