How Ireland Voted 2007: The Full Story of Ireland’s General Election

HEINZ BRANDENBURG Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Aberdeen, UK PATRICK BUTLER Associate Professor - Marketing, Melbourne Business School, AustraliaR. K. Carty Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia, CanadaNEIL COLLINS Department of Government, University College Cork, Ireland GAIL MCELROY Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, IrelandGARY MURPHY Senior Lecturer in Government, Dublin City University, IrelandEOIN O'MALLEY School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, IrelandTHERESA REIDY Department of Government, University College Cork, IrelandRICHARD SINNOTT Associate Professor, Department of Politics, University College Dublin, IrelandROBERT THOMSON Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, IrelandLIAM WEEKS Department of Government, University College Cork, IrelandZBYSZEK ZALINSKI Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

'Debunking myths, separating fact from fiction, this book is an indispensable guide to understanding what really happened in our most recent election.' - Gerald Barry, Editor This Week, RTE Radio 'Over the past two decades the How Ireland Voted series has tracked election after election, providing the authoritative account by leading political science experts on Irish politics. How Ireland Voted 2007 is a must-read for any observer of Irish electoral politics, but particularly for those interested in understanding the background to, nature, and wider political outcomes of this extraordinary election.' - David Farrell, University of Manchester, UK 'Gallagher and Marsh have assembled an impressive team of investigators to conduct a forensic examination of the Irish political scene, before, during and after the 2007 election. This report of their findings makes for fascinating reading and it will endure as the definitive account of what happened and why.' - Noel Whelan, Political Analyst, Irish Times& RTE 'Surpasses its excellent predecessors by doing everything they did, and doing it really well, then adding fascinating new perspectives on matters such as the fulfilment of campaign pledges, the performance of both opinion polls and bookies in predicting the result, and the role of the media during the campaign.' - Professor Michael Laver, New York University, USA ' the most impressive How Ireland Voted volume to date.' John Garry, Irish Political Studies ' the achievement of the editors in shaping this book and indeed in establishing this series ranks among the most impressive in the ever-expanding academic literature on Irish elections.' John Bowman, Irish Times

• The Background to the Election; G.Murphy The Fulfilment of Election Pledges; R.Costello& R.Thomson Campaign Strategies and Political Marketing; N.Collins& P.Butler Candidate Selection: Democratic Centralism or Managed Democracy?; L.Weeks The View from the Campaign Trail; N.Collins TD, T.Flanagan TD, K.O'Meara& N.Ó Brolcháin The Earthquake that Never Happened: Analysis of the Results; M.Gallagher Explanations for Party Choice; M.Marsh The Polls: A Clear Improvement; G.McElroy& M.Marsh The Election as Horse Race: Betting and the Election; M.Gallagher The Media and the Campaign; H.Brandenburg& Z.Zalinski The Seanad Election; T.Reidy Government Formation in 2007; E.O'Malley Fianna Fáil and Irish Party Competition; R.K.Carty