This is the period when politicians can get ratty. Three weeks of hard slog, dog's abuse at the doorstep and little sleep, will test even the most patient and good-natured of candidates.
Mr Gerry Adams summed it up nicely. "My head's wrecked," he protested, when after several press conferences in the past week the TV and radio people begged him for an extra interview so they could have Sinn Fein soundbite reaction to the inspection of arms dumps.
Mr John Hume got aggravated during a phone-in on BBC's Talkback programme on Thursday. You could sense a conspiracy of republican callers lining up to have a go, with a queue of anti-Belfast Agreement unionists behind them.
Peter, who had a voice like a knife, wondered why SDLP candidates didn't feel "ashamed" canvassing in nationalist areas when its MPs sat in Westminster after taking an "oath to the English queen". It's an "affirmation", not an oath, said Mr Hume.
Liam barracked him on policing. It was the "same old rhetoric" from Mr Hume, he said. Pat also raised the issue of the RUC, and wondered who ordinary nationalists would turn to when Catholics, as he predicted, were forced from their homes during the marching season. He would turn to republican paramilitaries, he indicated.
This time there was no Humespeak. You could sense him in the radio studio rolling up his sleeves and digging into his tormentors, giving as good as he got, without any familiar talk of spilling sweat instead of blood.
The SDLP leader's line effectively was: "What about Sinn Fein's links with the IRA? What about all the years of IRA violence? What about Sinn Fein MPs refusing to sit in Westminster?" This from a man who coined the pejorative phrase, "whataboutery". Verbally it was more John Prescott than John Hume.
The Ulster Unionists and DUP continued to lay into each other during the week. The Rev Ian Paisley's team unveiled another billboard, this time of David Trimble as old Methuselah. "I will not wait indefinitely for decommissioning," declares the greybeard Mr Trimble.
In turn, the Ulster Unionist leader produced a picture of a DUP councillor apparently in animated discussion with a Sinn Fein councillor, arguing that this was further proof that the party's claims it did not deal directly with republicans were pure cant.
There was TV coverage of DUP sympathisers giving Mr Trimble and candidate Mr David McNarry a very rough ride during a canvass in Strangford, where Dr Paisley's runner is Ms Iris Robinson. That experience probably explained why Mr McNarry, at a later UUP press conference, rather ungraciously compared Ms Robinson to acerbic quiz show host Ann Robinson.
"Iris Robinson obviously was The Weakest Link," said Mr McNarry. This was a reference to her not being chosen as a member of the DUP's all-male team for the post-election negotiations - that is, if the DUP is invited to the talks.
"What would you expect from David McNasty," said the DUP's Mr St Clair McAllister.
And it will surely get nastier before Thursday. There are still a lot of undecided voters out there, and the politicians are using every trick in the campaign book to swing those waverers to their particular side in the numerous marginal constituencies such as West Tyrone, Strangford, North Down, South Antrim, North Belfast and Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
BBC and UTV are due to hold key television debates featuring the leaders of the four main parties next week. This could be the last chance for Mr Trimble, Mr Hume, Mr Adams and Dr Paisley to win the support of the uncertain voters.
Mr Trimble obviously believes he can score points off Dr Paisley in these debates. "Ian Paisley has been kept under wraps by the DUP during this election campaign and the electorate should know where he stands on the important issues, not just line-dancing," he taunted yesterday.
The line-dancing gag, it must be said, is wearing thin at this stage. All the parties are trying to corner that vote, and cause as much embarrassment to the DUP following Dr Paisley's religious fatwa against line-dancers.
When the polls close on Thursday night, some of the old enmities will briefly disappear. For a short while before the counts are completed, a bond that transcends unionist and nationalist, Yes and No candidate, will be established, a bond of politicians waiting, hoping and praying that sufficient of the electorate likes them.
In the meantime it's still pressure politics. The Irish Times regularly runs a column on how leading figures in Irish society handle their stress. The First and Deputy First Ministers this week gave an insight into how they cope.
Mr Trimble has catholic tastes. After concluding his late night canvasses, he wound down by tuning into his favourite music this week. Emmylou Harris and Brahms were his chief choice of CDs. He went for Brahms sonatas, although by Thursday night his preference probably will be for the composer's lullaby.
It wasn't so simple for Mr Mallon. After a day on the stump he likes to go into a pub and have a quiet pint on his own, and forget about the election for a while. "Trouble is all the election experts are in the pub," lamented Mr Mallon.
