On his daily walkabout last Tuesday, Dale Butler and his assistant for the night Anthony Wade were in fine fettle as they pounded the streets around Warwick North East.

Concentrating on the heavily PLP area of Spring Hill, they had previously already completed their canvassing schedule and so were retracing their steps to catch those that weren't home, or those who were undecided.

With so many houses to tend to during the course of canvassing, Mr. Butler said he tried to limit five minutes to each household, although admitted that sometimes it got difficult.

"We have had soup, sandwiches, steak and beer, besides everything else," said Mr. Butler.

"When I was first elected in 1998 I used to say 'no', but then I realised people took offence, so now we try to say 'yes'.

"I can tell you, we have been so comfortable, sat beside some people's swimming pools, we haven't wanted to get up and leave, but you know you have to."

But it's not all fun and games out on canvassing patrol. Besides contending with aggressive dogs and unequivocal voters, it is sheer hard work.

Armed with his black book, containing every voters name and address, photographs of roads, and notes written beside people's details about his last visit, Mr. Butler asks three simple questions of his residents.

"Do you have any issues to bring to my attention? Have you been getting my mail? Can I count on your support?"

One woman on Westering Lane would not give her name but said: "You will be counting on my support. You don't just start out canvassing now. You go around all year and that's what I appreciate."

But among her gripes were children from outside the area hanging around the neighbourhood using bad language until midnight everyday.

That was written down and then Mr. Butler moved on.

Another woman jokingly shouted at keen chef Mr. Butler: "Don't come in my yard unless you have fishcakes."

While another one shouted as he walked past: "Keep the Butler in the House," and another woman said: "He doesn't know just how big he is."

For one man the issue was death tax and immigration laws, but for another elderly woman, who wanted to talk privately with the MP, it was something much more personal.

Afterwards, Mr. Butler, 50, emerged from his "quiet chat" with the resident and said: "She told me I had to be more of a team player. She said I had to listen more and take my time and then my time would come."

For Mr. Butler, a former teacher, it was all in a day's work and he took the lesson well.

"I always walk when I canvas because you catch a lot more people when you are on foot," said Mr. Butler.

"And I always go out canvassing with someone else. I don't believe in going alone because the second person is there to protect me and the constituents. He can also back me and say, for example, 'no, Mr. Butler never said the PLP was in favour of income tax'.

"But one day I knocked at a house and a woman came to the door in her full birthday suit - she was totally naked. That's why I don't like to go alone.

"And besides, an awful lot of people know Anthony Wade, so that helps."

Mr. Wade, who is the nephew of the late PLP leader Frederick Wade, said many people questioned why Mr. Butler had been overlooked by the party.

"People are upset that Dale is not in Cabinet and they don't understand why not," he said.

"But I don't think that will really stop people voting for him. I have heard a few guys, not necessarily in this area, who said they weren't going to vote this time.

"I wouldn't say I have seen a lot of that, but I have heard from young people about how they feel. The expectations were very high. I just think that they don't understand that five years can go by very quickly and whatever it was they wanted us to get done has not been done, and so they are frustrated. They thought that in a year all the issues would be solved."

But Mr. Wade said he also understood some people had problems with Premier Jennifer Smith, but he was quick to jump to her defence.

He said: "I don't know what people expect from Jennifer Smith. She has her own personality and she has her own way that she would like to do things. She is not a Sir John Swan and I think there are many people who compare her with him.

"I have not seen a change in her. She has a job to do and there are more demands on her now. I think she needs to be given some leeway in that area."

@EDITRULE:

Prominent defence lawyer Mark Pettingill is used to having to fight his corner in the cut and thrust of Bermuda's criminal courts - and it has to be said that he doesn't come off badly.

And so, it is no surprise that the 39-year-old is relishing the thought of yet another battle of the wits, but this time in the political arena that is to be the General Election.

Despite losing a very high profile murder case on Thursday, Mr. Pettingill took the defeat in his stride when he went out into Warwick North East to canvas his constituents later that day.

With ring binder in hand, and accompanied by former Progressive Labour Party die-hard Winfield Trott, who has now just as vehemently moved across to the United Bermuda Party, they set about targeting the residents in Morgan Road.

Mr. Pettingill said it was a very mixed road with both Government and Opposition supporters. However, he said it also contained a number of undecided, or swing, voters and those were the people he wished to reach throughout his district.

"This is my last place to visit, then we will have been all the way around the constituency," said Mr. Pettingill.

"After that I can then get around to people who want to see me again, and go back to those people who were undecided before. There are a number of people in that position and they will be very important."

During his rounds, Mr. Pettingill is regularly grilled on his personal profession, as many see him as purely "getting criminals off", and Thursday was no exception.

The wife of a Police officer offered Mr. Pettingill her support on July 24, but took time out to have a jibe at his choice of career.

Jokingly, she said: "Seeing as though you have come to my house, I will vote for you. But we are not going to talk about your profession. I bet you get asked a lot about that."

Mr. Pettingill said he did, but tried to explain that his job, as a defence lawyer, was to provide the checks and balances in the judicial system and said everybody had a right to a defence counsel.

"I'm trying hard to improve the justice system - not just on the side of improving and diminishing crime, but making it a fairer system all round. I want to put video conferencing in to every interview room. Then you can see the Police officer who gets wrongly accused of beating someone up, and the person who may occasionally get beaten up, you are able to protect him, too.

"I'm a big Police advocate."

Like Mr. Butler, the UBP candidate said he had not encountered one rude person on his campaign travels and enjoyed nothing more than a good discussion with residents about their issues and their thoughts on Governance.

"I have only had one person who said outright 'I'm voting for Dale Butler' end of story. Other people have all listened and talked," said Mr. Pettingill.

"I get on with Dale very well and I have a great amount of respect for him, I just think he is on the wrong side. The big distinction between me and Dale Butler is that I have the party's support on what I want for the country, but he doesn't."

During the rounds on Thursday, a taxi driver was among those residents who came to the door wanting to hear what the UBP candidate had to say. Ever the politician and the lawyer, Mr. Pettingill wasted no time in asking whether the gentleman was happy with the GPS fiasco of the last 18 months. "No, I'm not good with GPS, at all," he shot back.

"And the way my son is feeling, he is not going to vote. He's 27."

He assured the Opposition member that he had his support and said Government should be spending energy elsewhere, instead of on a GPS system for taxis.

A female, black lawyer, who did not wish to be named, said she did not wish to be drawn on who she would vote for, but admitted that she was unhappy with some things the Government had done, or had not done.

"Education is my biggest concern," she said.

"I would tell you honestly that if I had kids today, I would not send them to any public schools. I'm not happy with what has been done with education in the past five years.

"Crime is out of hand. I don't think Government has done a good job with crime. Housing isn't an issue for me."

But the woman said she was also concerned about "racial issues" and more specifically getting jobs. She said she applied for many law jobs before being finally accepted. "When I finished my LPC I came back here without a job," she explained.

"I applied to lots of places and they all came back negative."

It was Mr. Pettingill's chance to say his piece and try to entice her over once and for all.

"Do you feel you have the right management team in place in the Government to do all of this?" he asked.

"It's not a popularity contest. It's who will manage our country best. No one can do it on their own. It's about what your plan is."

A guy walking his dog offered his support; a woman was unable to talk as she was putting her children to bed, but she wanted a second visit with Mr. Pettingill at the weekend; and a card and some leaflets had to be left at one house where only two ten-year-old boys were home.

Totting up where he had support in Morgan Road and where he didn't, Mr. Pettingill said he felt fairly confident.