Adrian Kavanagh, 14 December 2011
There have been many electoral contests during 2011, associated with February’s general election, the Seanad elections in April and the October’s presidential elections, in addition to a by-election and two referendum elections. But which parties and candidates managed to get the golden goose who laid the golden electoral eggs in these contests? Sometime over the next week or so I will be deciding which parties (at a national or constituency) or candidates are most deserving of the following awards. Decisions will not be based on sheet weight of numbers (or votes!) but will take account of the challenges faced by candidates/parties in specific constituencies or contests and the level of the competition offered by opposing parties:
- Best individual electoral performance by an election candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a Fine Gael candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a Labour candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a Fianna Fail candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a Sinn Fein candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a United Left Alliance candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a Green Party candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a non-party candidate
- Best individual electoral performance by a candidate who did not win a seat
- Luckiest election candidate
- Unluckiest election candidate
- Best performance by a political party in a general election constituency
- Best performance by a political party in a national contest
- Most surprising electoral result
- Most surprising event to happen during an electoral campaign
- Biggest electoral miscalculation
- Biggest electoral miscalculation ahead of an election campaign
- Biggest electoral miscalculation during, or after, an election campaign
- Best use of internet/social media by an election candidate
- Best use of internet/social media to comment on/cover the 2011 elections by a non-politician
- Best use of tweeting/Twitter by an election candidate
- Best use of tweeting/Twitter to comment on the 2011 elections by a non-politician
- AK’s favourite radio/TV interviewer in relation to 2011 elections’ media coverage
Any comments or suggestions as to likely candidates for the above awards may be made below or via Twitter (#goldengoose), but ultimately in true political tradition it will be a case of uno duce una voce in terms of the final decisions, bwa ha ha.
Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses 
■Best individual electoral performance by an election candidate
Stephen Donnelly – came from nowhere to win a tough victory.
■Best individual electoral performance by a Fine Gael candidate
Enda Kenny, huge personal vote & 3 running mates
■Best individual electoral performance by a Labour candidate
Pat Rabbitte, huge personal vote & a running mate
■Best individual electoral performance by a Fianna Fail candidate
Robert Troy up against two grizzled veterans
■Best individual electoral performance by a Sinn Fein candidate
Sandra McLellan
■Best individual electoral performance by a United Left Alliance candidate
Joan Collins – not as high profile as other ULA candidates in a Lab stronghold
■Best individual electoral performance by a Green Party candidate
Eamon Ryan – at least he made a fight of it
■Best individual electoral performance by a non-party candidate
Stephen Donnelly
■Best individual electoral performance by a candidate who did not win a seat
John Ryan (FG), Donegal North East – never had a chance but pulled in a big vote in a non-traditional FG area
■Unluckiest electoral candidate
Michael D’Arcy – party’s rise was no match to the lure of Mick Wallace
■Best performance by a political party in a general election constituency
Fine Gael winning 3 in Dublin South on just 36% despite the huge vote of the politically similar Shane Ross
■Best performance by a political party in a national contest
Fine Gael
■Most surprising electoral result
Extent of FF wipeout
■Most surprising event to happen during an electoral campaign
The prospects of a Fine Gael overall majority
■Biggest electoral miscalculation
That the Fine Gael brand alone would be enough to secure the Presidency
■Biggest electoral miscalculation ahead of an election campaign
Fianna Fail choosing too many candidates in Donegal South West, Cork East, Dublin North etc
■Biggest electoral miscalculation during, or after, an election campaign
Fine Gael not running second candidates in Kildare South or Dublin north East
Best use of tweeting/Twitter by an election candidate: Dylan Haskins
I’d say 3 out of 5 for Fine Gael in Cavan/Monaghan was both a surprising result and a great result.
Best Result Overall: Enda Kenny’s poll topping performance, Shane Ross a close second with Stephen Donnelly an honourable mention
Best FG: Peter Mathews – added to the ticket the week before the election
Best Lab: R Quinn bringing in a running mate, Gilmore take note!
Best FF: Troy – although he’s been very quiet since
Best SF: Brian Stanley – not their heartland
Best Green: no nominations of sufficient celibate, although how Ryan could spend 10k on polling, when Adrain could have told him he wasn’t getting a seat…
Ind: Joan Collins, although I do expect a Dynasty cat fight with MMOC at some stage!
Unluckiest candidate: Sean Gallagher, but for one tweet….
Best GE Performance by a party – modesty forbids, ok it doesn’t – FG Dublin South 3 seats on 36.3%, wonder who the DoE was???
Most surprising result: number of FF senators returned, even if Michael Martin didn’t want most of them
Most surprising election event: Enda Kenny explaining cloud computing to gathered hacks – very funny moment in campaign
Biggest miscalculation : FG presidential strategy, Cox wouldn’t be accepted by membership & Mitchell by the people
Biggest miscalculation before campaign: Gilmore for… posters
Biggest miscalculation post: Labour selection for Dublin West bye-election – Patrick Nulty didn’t last a wet weekend on the gov benches
Dang! We can’t use Presidential Election Campaign. Because, in my opinion the assassination of Gallagher by a tweet could be a runner most surprising event to happen during an electoral campaign…
You can! All elections held during 2011 are legitimate !
I think these will make most sense if I refrain from commenting….
Best individual electoral performance by an election candidate: Stephen Donnelly
Best individual electoral performance by a Fine Gael candidate: Michael Lowry
Best individual electoral performance by a Labour candidate: Michael D. Higgins
Best individual electoral performance by a Fianna Fail candidate: Robert Troy
Best individual electoral performance by a Sinn Fein candidate: Pearse Doherty
Best individual electoral performance by a United Left Alliance candidate: Joe Higgins
Best individual electoral performance by a Green Party candidate: n/a
Best individual electoral performance by a non-party candidate: Stephen Donnelly
Best individual electoral performance by a candidate who did not win a seat: Seán Gallagher
Luckiest election candidate: Enda Kenny
Unluckiest election candidate: Seán Gallagher
Best performance by a political party in a general election constituency: Fine Gael Dublin South
Best performance by a political party in a national contest: Fine Gael
Most surprising electoral result: Mary Davis implosion
Most surprising event to happen during an electoral campaign: SF’s live tv ambush
Biggest electoral miscalculation: Gay Mitchell
Biggest electoral miscalculation ahead of an election campaign: Cowen’s reshuffle
Biggest electoral miscalculation during, or after, an election campaign: Gilmore for Taoiseach
Best use of internet/social media by an election candidate: Seán Gallagher
Best use of internet/social media to comment on/cover the 2011 elections by a non-politician: The Journal
Best use of tweeting/Twitter by an election candidate: David Norris
Best use of tweeting/Twitter to comment on the 2011 elections by a non-politician: Adrian Kavanagh
AK’s favourite radio/TV interviewer in relation to 2011 elections’ media coverage: Drivetime