MAYBE Dr Gerard Casey, philosophy lecturer and leader of the Christian Solidarity Party, believes in miracles given his prediction that the party can win two seats in the general election.
Modestly enough though, he doesn't think either of the seats will be his. And trawling through Dun Laoghaire's half empty shopping centre in the mid morning, it's hard to disagree.
In the time that more experienced candidates would have pressed the flesh a hundred times, Casey is still listening to the same woman's complaint about the sewage treatment plant in Mutton Island.
Mutton Island? That's in Galway. This is the Borough of Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown.
The woman saunters through a bewildering range of issues, giving Casey the opportunity to explain his Christian centred view of the world. So what about the environment?
"I believe as a Christian that we are put on this Earth not to exploit the environment but to have stewardship of it. Not only do you look after yourself but you also care for your neighbours.
Casey polled 768 votes when he stood in the by election in Dublin West last year. This time, in his home constituency "I live in the poor side of Killiney" canvassing is "a breeze". "There haven't been local elections since we were founded, though, so we're building for the future.
Nora Bennis and her National Party have stolen much of the CSP's Christian thunder. Fianna Fail has stolen its idea of an allowance for parents staying in the home. Even Casey's canary yellow rosette is the same colour as that used by a rival, Eamon Gilmore of Democratic Left.
Down in the settled red bricks on Rosmeen Gardens, though, the going gets better. Elderly people open large doors nervously, but seem well disposed to Casey's pro family message. The A word comes up frequently. There is general support for the holding of another referendum on abortion.
A Roscommon man tells Casey "there's three votes for you in my house". An elderly man invites us into his front room, from where he points through lace curtained windows at the cars outside. "B & Bs next door - can't get parking anywhere."
Casey, an expert in chess and the natural law, suggests contacting the traffic department in the council, but the man looks sceptical: "I was thinking of going to Marian Finucane about it".
Down the road, a retired Christian Brother is painting the railings of the two houses he occupies with seven colleagues. Another vote here. But then the storytelling starts. Brother Murphy tells tales of rugby games in Co Cork in the old days. Casey says he has the Patrician Brothers to thank for his scholarship to third level.
But the clock is ticking. In an hour, the candidate has seen maybe three voters. It's just as well he says the Christian Solidarity Party is in for the long haul.
