It was not what she said but how and where she said it. An Aer Lingus flight had taken Mary McAleese to Manchester on Monday night, but it seemed to be the polls that really got her there. The World Irish Heritage centre in Manchester had invited all five candidates. Prof McAleese was the only one who responded, they said.
With much of her campaign taken up with doing things presidential rather than acting like an election hopeful, the footsteps of Mary Robinson were stamped all over this engagement.
Prof McAleese's speech took that most Robinsonian of themes - the Irish diaspora - although the D-word itself did not feature. She preferred to talk about the "global Irish family", she told reporters.
But, she told the man from the BBC, she was not trying to be Mary Mark II. She did not want to replicate Robinson in a "cloying or cloning" way, she insisted.
"Would it be possible to get a picture of her with a pint of Guinness?" a local photographer asked one of her handlers hopefully. "No," was the short answer.
But it was the only short answer that the media received from the candidate. An interview with reporters almost became a fireside chat, in front of a picture of JFK between two china dogs on the mantlepiece. Memories of more chilly occasions were still fresh.
At the reception, attended by well-heeled Irish businessmen and women who take being Irish very seriously, they talked about keeping in touch with the campaign. The centre is a small chip off de Valera's Ireland, where the souvenir and travel shop sells batch loafs, Erin soup, Jacobs biscuits and Chef brown sauce.
Travelling with Prof McAleese was Dev's granddaughter, Sile De de Valera, one of the two Ministers in the roadshow.
Mary Robinson had been the first major Irish figure to acknowledge their existence, one man said.
"Before that, the only time we saw Irish politicians was when they came for party fundraisers or tickets to Old Trafford."
It appeared that only a handful of the people in the hall would be able to influence Prof McAleese's fate tomorrow.
There were a few visitors to the centre with a vote and then there were the "others who don't have a vote, like myself", the candidate said.
The old Mary had been followed on the Mancunian trail by Albert Reynolds and John Bruton. All three smiled down from the VIP wall in the entrance.
Early yesterday, the mobile phones of handlers were used to convey news of the latest poll. The small gamble of leaving Irish soil with hours to go before polling day had paid off. The candidate flew back home yesterday morning to insist she was still not complacent.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach and Tanaiste made a joint appeal last night to voters to support ail-Progressive Democrat candidate, Prof McAleese.
"She has proved herself to be a candidate of stature and substance and has all the credentials to make her Presidency one for all the people," they said.
It was important, the statement added, that people chose "the most worthy successor to Mary Robinson".
