With the media moratorium on election coverage due to fall like a sheet over a disfigured corpse, it is time to reflect, even if it sets your teeth on edge, on the campaigns that are rapidly winding down. Alas, it was far from an electrifying spectacle. If the politics of ideology is a thing of the past–with all parties agreeing on not just the same destination but the same road to take (it’s their opponents driving skills that the candidates question)–the politics of personality have come to the forefront. The hitch is that you have to have politicians with some personality to make such a substance-free proposition work.I exaggerate slightly–there are some “personalities” in the Irish parliament. Like this one. And he has a good chance, just like this chancer, of getting back in. Or even, God help us, of holding the balance of power.As for me, I shall unenthusiastically opt for the Blueshirt option. Not because I’m itching to sign Enda Kenny’s contract but would dearly love to hand Bertie, Cullen, Roche, Hanafin, and Cowen their P45s. Such an outcome is not looking likely at 8.45 PM, May 22, but I can’t handle the prospect, just yet, of listening to, say, Martin Cullen defend the relaunch of electronic voting in 2011.