Local football star Michael Mifsud became an unlikely mascot for the Nationalist Party's 2015 vision yesterday, after making a surprise appearance at the PN's general council.
Using Mr Mifsud's recent performance at Old Trafford, where he booted Manchester United out of the Carling Cup by scoring two goals, Prime Minister and party leader Lawrence Gonzi held Mr Mifsud out as someone who embodied the sense of achievement at the heart of PN's message.
The footballer appeared on stage just as Dr Gonzi started his closing address, taking the Prime Minister's seat beside Kate Gonzi and the party secretary general Joe Saliba.
"He comes from a small island and yet has made a big name for himself and the country," Dr Gonzi said, as Mr Mifsud, looking slightly uncomfortable, acknowledged the applause of the delegates present.
Mr Mifsud's presence, in effect, provided a platform from which Dr Gonzi indirectly contrasted his party's confidence in the abilities of the Maltese with Labour's disheartening politics of pessimism.
While Labour's drumbeat used to be the "hole" in the country's finances, the Nationalists' sights were placed firmly on the "peak".
"While they spoke of ... Switzerland in the Mediterranean, we were talking of EU membership. It was an uphill road but we made it, and beyond that hill we found €850 million waiting for us," he said.
Closing the council, the Prime Minister spoke of the challenges ahead while emphasising the government's performance over the past three-and-a-half years, highlighting a 336-page document released yesterday which gives just such an overview.
Throughout the morning delegates had relentlessly contrasted Dr Gonzi with Labour leader Alfred Sant, making it increasingly apparent that the PN will be basing a lot of its election campaign on a presidential-style confrontation between the two.
IT and Investment's Minister Austin Gatt kicked off his brief speech with a "joke" about Dr Sant. He said that before the Labour leader assured everyone on Bondiplus last week that his bizarre delivery at Birzebbuga on Independence Day was simply a "bad joke", his performance could have qualified him for a feature on Altered Statesmen, a documentary series on Discovery channel which investigates political leaders who have had bouts of alcoholism or substance abuse.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Mr Saliba also mentioned Dr Sant's "joke".
"This is not a novel of his, without a beginning and without an end," Mr Saliba said in reference to one of Dr Sant's books by the same title.
"He can joke all he wants with his own private matters but not with our future", he insisted at one point referring to him as "a failure".