Westmeath will see no change in the line-up of Dail representation after the next election, according to party activists.
There is even agreement on the issues over which the election is to be fought - public transport, housing, decentralisation and hospital facilities.
Fianna Fail in Westmeath has opted to try to win two of the three seats in the county at the next general election, according to neighbouring Laois-Offaly TD and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.
Mr Cowen, who chaired a recent selection convention, said there was a need to obtain a second seat. He welcomed the candidacy of Mrs Mary O'Rourke and Mr Donie Cassidy, who were selected unopposed.
Fine Gael has already selected sitting TD Mr Paul McGrath and running mate Ms Nicky McFadden, and it is thought likely that the Labour Party will have just one candidate, sitting TD Mr Willie Penrose.
While observers believe there will be others in the field before the next general election, most agree that last week's selection by Fianna Fail finalises the line-up of the main political parties for the next election.
If either of the larger parties is to take a second seat, it may well be at the expense of Mr Penrose. However, Mr Penrose is hoping to be re-elected to the seat he originally won in 1992, after a gap in Labour's Dail representation in Westmeath since 1927.
The political parties in the constituency predict the result will be the same as exists at present, one Fianna Fail, one Fine Gael and one Labour. All parties expect to see a number of independents join the race, including a "hospital candidate" to campaign for the immediate implementation of phase 2B of the upgrading of the Longford/Westmeath General Hospital.
According to a poll of the candidates, the other issues which are likely to emerge before an expected spring election are the decentralisation of a Government department to Mullingar; an extension of the Dublin rail network to the east of the constituency, affordable housing and the continuance in military hands of Columb barracks in Mullingar.
Local politicians say there is dismay in the Mullingar area that Athlone, Longford, Tullamore and Navan have been allocated jobs due to civil service decentralisation, while Mullingar has not.
The expansion of the commuter rail network, it has been claimed, would enhance the environment by taking cars off the road. Campaigners want new stations at Hill of Down, Killucan and Rochfortbridge and a regular service to Maynooth. Many politicians see housing, involving rising prices, lengthening local authority housing lists and the need for affordable housing as a major issue when it comes to knocking on doors in the election campaign.
Some 200 members of the Army are stationed at Columb barracks in Mullingar and local business interests are determined that it should not be closed or scaled down as part of the general review of the Army's needs.
An industrial base at the junction of the N6 and N4 is seen as essential to the area's prosperity.
In the western end of the constituency, the issue for business is to get the pipeline from the gas field to serve the area, particularly Athlone. Another issue suggested was the establishment of a National Railway Museum in the constituency.