A momentum is building behind the Labour Party's campaign in Cork South Central.
Toddy O'Sullivan has seen it all before. A lifetime of public service has inured him to the slings and arrows - he can joke at his own expense about what he considers to be subtle jibes by the other candidates in the field concerning his age. "If Fianna Fail and Fine Gael got together, euthanasia would probably become an issue," he chuckles.
Toddy O'Sullivan knows local politics, the Dail and ministerial office. He has served his apprenticeship and can scoff at implied remarks about his age.
"My father was still working when he was 90 years of age and I intend to beat that record," he said, while working the streets of the Greenmount area in Cork where the welcome was spontaneous and genuine. This is where his core support lies - "If I didn't get it here where would I get it?" he asked.
Toddy O'Sullivan could show the other candidates a thing or two. He doesn't hang about on the canvass - it all happens with great speed and intent.
"We're all students here, we have no votes," he was told when one door opened. "OK, no good, see you," he replied, and it was on to the neighbour's house like lightning. Everywhere he went, there were waves, handshakes and a welcome as well as the assurance that he didn't even need to ask for a number one vote.
On a splendidly fine day in Cork the party leader, Ruairi Quinn, was in town to support the candidate. Simon Coveney, he said, got off to a flying start but the mood was changing. "I think we have a real chance here", he added. "Democratic Left has endorsed Toddy, the unions are behind him and there will be other endorsements before polling day. In the last election, there was an anti-Labour swing and people anyway thought that Toddy was safe.
"These were the factors that lost him a seat. It's different this time, we are pulling out all the stops, and there has been a huge surge of support. We predict that the people who didn't vote last time for him will do so on this occasion," Mr Quinn said. For Labour, nothing is being left to chance. Trade unionists throughout the constituency have been contacted and asked for their support.
Ruairi Quinn has written personal letters to some 5,000 constituents and in the case of voters who have registered in Irish, the letters going out are in Irish.
The Labour Party is serious about this campaign and knows that transfers will be vital. That's why the letters seeking support had asked for second preferences and made the point that Mr O'Sullivan deserves at least No. 2.
This weekend, a special train will leave Heuston Station, Dublin, packed with party stalwarts en route to Cork.
During the journey, it will pick up more supporters and they will converge on the city to show solidarity with the candidate. In one house, Roy Walsh said he has spent the past 11 years trying to have an ESB pole removed from his front garden. He wanted to be able to bring his car into the drive but the pole was obstructing his access and he had to park the car at the top of the road in Greenmount Crescent. Two of his cars had been stolen because of this.
Toddy listened carefully to his complaint while Ruairi Quinn noted it in a dictaphone.
One woman was concerned that her daughter with a young child, who was on the housing waiting list in Cork, had to negotiate four flights of stairs with a buggy in order to get to her apartment. Toddy said he would look into it and Ruairi Quinn again noted the details on his tape recorder.
As polling day looms the prospects are that this election may be tighter than people had imagined.