Donie is worried for his seat.

[Iarmhi Gael]

He was in Kinnegad with Willie and Peter Burke for a Q&A with the residents.

Well organised and the a good turn out.

The commuters tackled them over transport and the traditional locals tackled them on amenities and policing.

Anyhow Donie came up to my Mother a longstanding Fine Gael person and said.

Donie "Auch *******, its not looking good, I'm going to lose my seat, I need all the No1's "
My Mum "But sure you'll retire on a great salary and you don't need all the hasle"
Donnie "But I love the work I love mixing with people, you have to give me your number 1 this time" Then turns his head and sees another Fine Gael voter to speak with.

I'm out on the doors myself in Iarmhi for FG and Peter Burke is not doing well, Donie is in a good position to get Paul MaGrath's vote from what I am seeing.

[Aisling C]

Of course Donie is worried about his seat. Of the Three Fianna Fáil candidates, Kelly has the Longford vote and O'Rourke has the south Westmeath vote.

Considering Donie's stomping ground, the Coole electoral area, is now part of Meath west, he has due reason to be anxious. It's unfortunate that there is so much bad blood between Cassidy and O'Rourke, as neither candidate's big supporters will be giving their second preference to the other. I think Kelly will benefit hugely from this. It could also be the ruin of both Cassidy and O'Rourke.

Also, don't forget that Donie is never one to be complacent. He'll use his underdog status in the Fianna Fáil race to his full advantage.

[Flyposter]

Was chatting to a man who saw Donie canvassing in parts of Longford last week

[codology]

I think it's time to break in a new syrup.

[gear one]

Well after that Athlone Topic poll he'd be worried. Even though a 200 sample size is a joke of a poll, at 6.5% He must be worried.

[Aisling C]

I didn't see the pole, but do yo really expect Donie to get votes around Athlone?

I'm sure an experienced politician like him is not that naive!

[gear one]

It was in the Westmeath Independant last Thursday. The Poll was conducted across the urban areas of Athlone, Longford and Mullingar with about 75 polled in Athlone, a few less in Mullingar and about 60 polled in Longford. It seemed a bit biased towards Athlone.
Mary O'Rourke was topping the poll on 18.5%
Willie Penrose was second on 17%
Peter Kelly was safe in Longford on 14% and Nicky Mcfadden with 11.5% pipped James Bannon to the fourth seat who had 10.5%.
Somehow Peter Burke was ahead of Donie Cassidy and less surprisingly, Paul Hogan was ahead of Mae Sexton.
But as I said with just 200 sampled it can't be taken seriously.

[Iarmhi Gael]

It was in the Westmeath Independant last Thursday. The Poll was conducted across the urban areas of Athlone, Longford and Mullingar with about 75 polled in Athlone, a few less in Mullingar and about 60 polled in Longford. It seemed a bit biased towards Athlone.
Mary O'Rourke was topping the poll on 18.5%
Willie Penrose was second on 17%
Peter Kelly was safe in Longford on 14% and Nicky Mcfadden with 11.5% pipped James Bannon to the fourth seat who had 10.5%.
Somehow Peter Burke was ahead of Donie Cassidy and less surprisingly, Paul Hogan was ahead of Mae Sexton.
But as I said with just 200 sampled it can't be taken seriously.

I would have expected Cassidy and O'Rourke to be neck and neck after first preference.

I am meeting alot of FG people in Mullingar switching over to Donie.

Everything else is what I would have expected

[MVOR]

What has Donie Cassidy done for Westmeath? Nothing - thats what. He promised Phase 2b would be finished within 18 months of him getting elected. The have started to gut the place now and estimates say 2011 is nearest completion date. Why are they taking out the brand new windows? McNamara who's on the job is a Fianna Fail man - explains a lot. Peter Burke on the other hand is young, ambitious and not corrupt. If Mullingar is to progress, we need Burke.

[RobB]

That poll in the wesmeath independent was a joke apart from the sample size if you look at the actual votes you will see that they eliminated Donie Cassidy ahead of Peter Burke even though it should have been the other way around. I'm not sure if this was intentional but i think Peter Burke's votes may have transferred to DC being the only other mullingar area candidate and this would have scuppered their headline of two Athlone TDs. I would like to see Peter Burke elected but realistically all he can hope for is a good showing this time to give himself a realistic shot in the next LE and 2012 GE. Also it would be a major shock if Athlone manages to elect two TDS. Its a smaller town than Mullingar and even the surrounding areas of athlone are much less populous than mullingar's.