Even if Bertie Ahern felt he had to call the election over a weekend rather than on a Dáil sitting day it could - and should - all have been done so differently.
Last Saturday afternoon, the Taoiseach could have held a media event in front of Government Buildings. He could have stepped up to an open-air podium, drenched in spring sunshine, and formally told the nation that an election will be held on May 24th. Such an announcement would have generated good copy and great photographs for the front and inside pages of the following day's newspapers. It would have gone some way, at least, to offset the various tribunal-related stories in those newspapers.
Later on Saturday or even early on Sunday morning, Ahern could have called on the President at Áras an Uachtaráin and sought the formal dissolution of the Dáil, giving him another substantial photo opportunity. Then Ahern could have made a point of immediately heading off on his barnstorming nationwide tour, leaving the Opposition struggling to catch up with the pace and momentum of his campaign.
It is likely that questions arising from stories about his finances would have followed him but he could have either avoided or contained them more easily on the stump in the surroundings which play to his strengths. Calling the election more calmly on Saturday afternoon, while allowing him to retain some element of surprise, would have enabled Ahern to perform the significant constitutional function of seeking a dissolution of the Dáil with more dignity than that which attended last Sunday's early morning dash to the Áras.
It would also have generated more positive coverage in the crucial first week of the campaign and would have given at least the impression that Ahern and his party were exerting control over events.
Instead, the Fianna Fáil campaign tripped itself up before it began. The Taoiseach must carry primary responsibility for this. It is Ahern after all who determined when and how the election would be called and it is he who must have had most forewarning of the issues likely to arise about his personal finances. Somebody may be deliberately drip-feeding stories to cause mayhem and confusion - and one has to have a degree of sympathy for any politician who faces such an onslaught - but the response to it all has been uninspiring to put it mildly.
Fianna Fáil was always going to be on the back foot in this campaign, at least in the initial stages. After 10 years in government, winning a third term was inevitably going to be an uphill struggle. With Fine Gael and Labour making a joint offering to the electorate, Ahern has a real fight on his hands. He could have done with a good start.
Fianna Fáil would have preferred to focus on the vagueness of some Opposition promises but instead the media has been dominated by the new payments controversy. Add to this the run of bad polls, the reactivation of the nurses' industrial action and the resurfacing of abortion as an issue in the courts, and one begins to appreciate the scale of the difficulties faced by the party in getting its message across.
Some elements of this week's events are similar to those of last autumn when the Taoiseach's personal finances were also the focus of controversy. Once again his response to questions has been evasive and confusing. The incoherence in the Fianna Fáil message is due in no small part to the Taoiseach withdrawing into himself.
He was wounded, irritated and agitated about having to deal again with questions about such personal and sensitive topics. He feels that the media focus on his personal finances is unfair.
When he gets into this mood it becomes difficult even for those closest to Ahern to establish precisely what he wants to say and it becomes impossible for them to advise him on how he can best say it.
In some respects the confrontation between Ahern and Vincent Browne at Fianna Fáil's manifesto launch was cathartic. Ahern had already swatted away questions from other journalists with his usual riposte that he would deal with all these matters at the Mahon tribunal. However, Browne's forensic pursuit of the issues meant the Taoiseach had to open up and one almost had the sense that he was relieved to get his response out there.
On one interpretation Browne did the Taoiseach a favour. By taking and surviving robust questioning Ahern got out of the hole he had dug for himself by refusing to answer questions.
On another interpretation the exchange between Ahern and Browne could cause further problems if his explanations do not stack up beside previous statements he has made.
This week's events are different from last autumn's as they are occurring in an entirely different context. In October we waited several weeks for scientific measurement of public reaction to questions about the Taoiseach's personal finances. It was three weeks into the controversy before the first substantial poll was published and when it showed Fianna Fáil benefiting, the controversy abated.
However, in an election campaign there will be polls every few days and we will know very soon how this issue is playing with the public. If Fianna Fáil is up in the various polls then the media may get bored and move on to other issues. If, however, Fianna Fáil falls further and there are more revelations then both the media and Opposition will smell blood and this election could take some more dramatic turns.