And so in the next few weeks you can expect to see politicians beating the pavement in your neighborhood or knocking on your door - and there will also be dozens of signs going up on every corner and lamp post. One man who got a jump on the competition today was UDP Mesopotamia incumbent Michael Finnegan. He started putting up street signs this afternoon - one hour after the election was announced. Now, Finnegan had the largest margin of victory of any UDP candidate in the 2012 general election - and his is considered one of the safest UDP seats in the country. But, still, he told us he has to go to work because on an election day, any number can play:..
Jules Vasquez
"Why did you feel it important to jump out of the gate, to bolt out of the gate? As the election call, your spring into action. There are signs all over Mesopotamia."
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"This is what I always do. This is my modus operandi."
Jules Vasquez
"You won with over 81% going over 82% in the last election. You are perhaps the person who least needs to prepare."
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"I don't agree with you. When you go into war and you are going into a battle, you take no chances. You go out and do what you need to do, so that you can succeed."
Jules Vasquez
"Sir, now 37 days to election. How do you prioritize what you are going to do in just that short time? Is it like "bwoy, I have to figure out what I am going to do," or do you already have a roadmap?"
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"To be honest with you, I have done everything. I need to do nothing. I have canvassed these voters for 30 years."
Jules Vasquez
"Are you concerned that there may be some level of fatigue with the Barrow administration that people might just have had enough, its two terms?"
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"In my view, people would get fatigue if they see nothing is getting done, but everywhere you turn in this country there is action."
Jules Vasquez
"Sir, you are a astute political historian. You remember the last time PUP called an election 8 years in their term as the UDP is doing. They got the shock of their life. The UDP were as shock as the PUP to have won, as the PUP to were have lost."
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"The situation back then and the situation now are different. They are completely different things."
Jules Vasquez
"As I recalled in 1993, the PUP money was rolling. The PUP had built so many buildings. Things were happening."
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"You see, that is what caught them. They refuse to do like what I am doing right now. They took it for granted 1993 and believe that they were going to win. When you go into election, election is not given to no one or there is not a platter and say this election belongs to you. It doesn't go like that at all Jules. You have to go out there and get it."
Jules Vasquez
"This will be the 6th time you are running for office. Is this your last?"
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Mesopotamia Area Representative
"I told you that the last time. But let me explain this to you. The party and the Prime Minister made it known clear that I must run in this election in Mesopotamia Division. That was from the party and the Prime Minister. And most importantly the good voters of Mesopotamia Division, all of them shout to me and say "one good more time" and here I am. When the people called, you have to answer the bell. Here I am."
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