Was he thinking about her? Would he remember how it felt? Five years ago, the Taoiseach was caught in "that campaign kiss" on Shop Street when he met a red-haired schoolgirl named Helen Muldoon. This time around, the only hint of crumpet in Galway West was tea and doughnuts and a demonstration on scone-making, in an electronics factory in Oughterard.
As for the red-heads, they were mainly middle-aged men who wanted to shake his hand as he moved from one photo opportunity to another between Oughterard and Tuam. With two constituencies to cover - Galway West and Galway East - the pace was brisk. In Spiddal, there was a brief stop at Telegael, the television company which produced all of Fianna Fáil's party political broadcasts for this campaign.
There Mr Ahern sat at the counter of Tigh Thaidhg on the set of Ros na Rún, and had a sip of mineral water served by young, handsome Máire Eilis Ní Flatharta. Then it was down to the village, where there "just happened to be" a currach at the pier, and several young men who were glad of his help to carry it out.
In Galway city, hundreds of boys opened their lungs to greet him at St Patrick's National School, and the principal, Mr Noel Cunningham, said the few minutes Mr Ahern had spent there was like having Alex Ferguson, Roy Keane and David Beckham all at once. "Indict Bertie - no Irish airport for Bush's criminal war" was the message on literature from Margaretta d'Arcy, a member of the Galway Alliance Against War group, and the Taoiseach, ever polite, talked to her for several minutes during his city centre walkabout. Fáil is a vote for incineration".
Meanwhile, a diminutive, soft-spoken woman in Lombard Street was just biding her time.
And then she stepped out, as if accidentally - independent candidate and Connacht-Ulster MEP, Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon, herself. There was a pleasant exchange of words, most of which was inaudible to the press. However, Ms Scallon's team, which included her brother, John, and her mother Sheila, was able to inform the press entourage afterwards that she had pressed the case of the West, and its continued neglect.
