Reflections on my own campaign

It's time for us all to look at the way the Lisbon campaign panned out. First off the margin of the local vote was a small victory. To be one of only ten constituencies to vote Yes, if only by a margin of four votes at least gave us the satisfaction of quietening the Shinners at the count centre.
For my own part I was happy to be complimented on local radio as having run the best campaign in Kilkenny. I had a highly visible poster campaign in the city area, and dropped over 4,000 leaflets into most houses in the city. I managed to canvass almost 1,000 houses while doing a number of public street events also.
I was happiest with the photo opportunity I organised where Labour, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Green party politicians came together to support the treaty.
To the negatives, the complaints from some about my poster design were valid. This was a National design, and the prominence of the Yes message was too small. The posters also failed to hit the simple message strategy that much of the No campaign did.
On reflection, we did spend far too much time on the defensive and teams which defend too much generally lose the game.
The failure to restate the gains we have made from EU membership, and the bravery to seek those benefits for other newer members was a mistake. The Yes campaign lacked a vision, a positive message to enthuse people. Many of those who we eventually persuaded to vote Yes did so reluctantly.
Finally, the campaign never showed serious intent. Brian Cowen's exhortations to his party to fight for the treaty like it was a General election just never happened. In our own party too, it was difficult to get members active. Maybe we all presumed thatthe voters wouldn't ' do Nice' on us and themselves again.we should never take them for granted again.