The same article however produces a nice (for Unionists!) touch of irony with the *all-Ireland* campaigning strategy of Ireland’s only *all-Ireland* party:
In the 2007 general election, in which McDonald failed to gain a Dail seat, Sinn Fein poured in workers from west Belfast and Antrim to canvass areas of core support. Dublin Sinn Fein members were sent to middle-class areas where the party hoped to attract new support. The feedback they got, outlined in an internal party report, was that northern voices were a turn-off and many of the canvassers were not well enough versed in Dublin politics to answer questions on the doorsteps. Even in Sinn Fein’s areas of strength, partitionism is alive and well.
That's a shocker last sentence and no mistake.
Anyway, they're not making the same error this time:
This year the party will again be deploying northerners to help McDonald and Mac Lochlainn, but will keep them well out of sight. The Nordies will be given roles as drivers, putting up posters and marking registers, none of which involve speaking to the public.
Exiled to the back of the election band-wagon in other words...shades of Alabama in the 50s there methinks.
5 comments:
Elections are always fascinating; It'll be interesting to see how the Sinn Fein Vote holds up in the RoI (and in NI, for that matter).
Clarke's DUP 'sources' seems to have been what he heard Mark Devenport say on Thursday's hearts and Minds.
"My DUP sources were particularly unhappy about one answer in which I surmised that they might not be too keen on putting Diane Dodds into debate with Jim Allister, given his reputation as a tough legal cross examiner."
"I pointed out that all the candidates are expected to debate at Queen's University later this month, with cameras present."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/
Devenport also admits
"Reviewing Hearts and Minds, it would have been better if I had included the fact that both the the DUP and TUV candidates had appeared at hustings events organised by the NI Council for Voluntary Action and the Federation of Small Businesses. Mea culpa."
Interesting how Clarke's article is a basic repetition of Devenport's with the same omisions/mistakes on what debates had occurred/planned.
"Partitionsism"? It's simply localism. The Kerry campaign in 2004 had a lot of people on the ground in Ohio but most of them were for out of state. They were well beat by a Bush campaign that had organised local people, more attuned to those issues.
I'd take an educated guess that running Belfast activists in the sticks would produce similar responses, particularly if they are not well versed in the local issues.
Oh and besides, Dubs hate everyone who isn't a Dub.
Timothy,
I think their vote will hold up ok in NI, the ROI will be quite a different matter.
FD,
I've updated the post with Devonport's comment.
Kensei,
Localism to an extent and the point about Dubs' attitudes, yep.
But haven't SF used and continue to use Belfast activists outside the city canvassing in certain rural NI elections?
Getting enough feet on the ground knocking the doors etc is a difficult job for all parties, so having the surplus capacity which SF undoubtedly do, would be an enormous asset even in Dublin.
That being the case, the reaction must have been that bad last time for to pull them off and into the backroom operations
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Getting enough feet on the ground knocking the doors etc is a difficult job for all parties, so having the surplus capacity which SF undoubtedly do, would be an enormous asset even in Dublin.
That being the case, the reaction must have been that bad last time for to pull them off and into the backroom operationsTerrible amount of assumptions there - neither of us have seen the report. Furthermore, no guarantee that the new course is the right one. They probably have people who were good at doing the doors even with the Nordie accent, and if lack of local knowledge is an issue then school people before they do it. You could also pair some Northerners with some locals.
There is undoubtedly some partitionist mentality even within nationalism: it has been an unfortunate fact of life for a long time. But this si simplistic.
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