Daraine Luton and Gareth Davis Sr, Gleaner Reporters

POPULAR People's National Party (PNP) President Portia Simpson Miller has walked almost every inch of West Portland in a bid to help Kenneth Rowe win tomorrow's by-election against the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Daryl Vaz.

But Vaz is not scared of the 'Portia factor'. He says he is prepared to take bets that he will be beating Rowe, Simpson Miller and the entire PNP with an increased majority.

"I am not running against Kenneth Rowe. I am running against Portia Simpson Miller. Kenneth Rowe is her campaign manager because Portia Simpson has been here every single day from nomination day, knocking on every door that she can find to accept her, along with the complete top echelon of the People's National Party," Vaz says.

He also warns that "because Portia Simpson Miller has put her seal, in terms of her activities, she has a lot at stake and the fact is that I am 100 per cent confident that I will beat Portia Simpson Miller and her campaign manager".

Not daunted by comments

But Rowe is not daunted by the comments of his opponent.

"Daryl Vaz must be talking about his own situation because he constantly has to be carrying Bruce Golding into the constituency to boost his position because, on the ground, it is Kenneth Rowe that the people are talking about," Rowe declares.

"My leader is the most popular politician in this country and her presence cannot hurt my campaign; it can only help it. The one-two combination of Portia and Rowe is causing them sleepless nights and the one-two combination from the JLP (of Golding and Vaz) does not have that magnetic factor," says Rowe.

Disqualified by courts

Vaz won the seat for the JLP by 944 votes in the September 2007 general election but was disqualified by the courts as he had pledged allegiance to a foreign power, which is prohibited by the Constitution.

Vaz has said that he would be disappointed if he did not increase his majority to at least 2,000 votes.

However, Luther Buchanan, Rowe's campaign manager, says Vaz will have to find a superlative to define his disappointment.

"Anybody claiming to win this election by a majority of over 2,000 is a political neophyte," Buchanan says, while claiming that the election would be close.

"The PNP ballots will flow out of the mountains like the Swift River, into the counting centre," Buchanan says as he predicts a PNP victory.

Supporters upbeat

Buoyed by the presence of Simpson Miller, PNP supporters are upbeat about Rowe's chances of beating Vaz.

"If anybody can do it, it will be Sister P," commented Tyrone Mier, a carpenter from Hope Bay.

Sheila Adams, a hairdresser from Buff Bay, agrees.

"All the noise and excitement you are hearing about Daryl Vaz, the Labourites are truly afraid of Sister P and her ability to pull off the impossible," Adams says.

"She has quietly been going house to house and doing her thing and will, in my view, take Rowe to victory next week," Adams adds.

Simpson Miller has virtually made West Portland her home since Golding announced the by-election two weeks ago.

Julian Robinson, the PNP's deputy general secretary, tells The Sunday Gleaner that Simpson Miller has hardly been absent from the campaign field since the election was announced.

"For the last two weeks, she has been there almost every day. The fact is that we are campaigning hard and the JLP is also campaigning hard," Robinson says.

Robinson adds: "If they were not campaigning hard, then there would be no need for so many ministers of government and JLP officials to be in the constituency every day."

The prime minister and members of his Cabinet have made frequent trips to West Portland since the by-election was announced.

"Elections are based on campaigning and the Government (ministers) would be irresponsible if they did not split their time and make sure, because they know that at the end of the day, this is what keeps you in power," Vaz says.

Two election losses

Simpson Miller, despite her huge popularity, has so far lost two national elections - the 2007 general election and the local-government election that year.

Robert Montague, campaign manager for Vaz, has warned that the popularity of Simpson Miller will not save Rowe.

"This is one time when the opposition leader's reputation as a solid campaigner will not work," Montague said of Simpson Miller.

Says Montague: "She has what her own campaign adviser, Basil Waite, described several weeks ago as a 'Herculean' task, so let's see her pull this off."

The JLP currently has 31 seats in the 60-seat House of Representatives to the PNP's 28 and defeat in West Portland could make governing more difficult for Golding.