Constituency profile: Upper Bann:A Lambeg drum sounds in the distance as David Simpson, the Democratic Unionist MP for Upper Bann, canvasses for the Assembly elections in a loyalist estate near Banbridge in Co Down.
Against this recurrent comforting beat Mr Simpson says he isn't taking any votes for granted in Upper Bann. He will canvass everywhere and says he helps constituents of all nationalities - Portadown is now home to almost 1,000 Portuguese and Polish workers - and faiths.
"Someone might come up to me and say: 'I'm a Roman Catholic,' and I will say, that makes no difference. I'm here to help everybody."
The Upper Bann town of Portadown where Mr Simpson was born is infamous for the Drumcree dispute over whether members of the Orange Order, like Mr Simpson, could walk down the nationalist Garvaghy Road.
In a signal of changed times, camera crews and journalists now travel to Portadown to document the fortunes of its rising population of Polish and Portuguese workers.
Mr Simpson acknowledges he will be remembered for taking the seat of Upper Bann from UUP leader Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey in 2005, but it wouldn't make a welcome epitaph.
"There was a lot of hype about Upper Bann being the Battle of the Davids but my battle will be in the next general election when I'm being judged for what I've achieved in the last 20 months [ as MP]."
Another thing the political fact-fan will remember Mr Simpson for is being one of 12 signatories from the party - the so-called Twelve Apostles - to a document insisting that party leader Ian Paisley had not nominated himself as first minister in the Assembly on November 24th last year.
But there's no dissension in the ranks as David and his fellow DUP candidate John McCrum jr (known as "Junior") and their workers amble through the estate, shoving party leaflets into letterboxes and chatting to passersby.
"It's good exercise for him," one waggish party worker pipes up, gesturing at Mr Simpson's comfortable build.
Mr Simpson says he's been hearing good things on the doors about the party's strategy for sharing/not sharing power with Sinn Féin.
"What I've been finding is that what people want is a credible period [ of testing Sinn Féin's commitment to peaceful methods]. People aren't opposed to power-sharing per se."
What does concern voters, he says, is education, proposed water rates - all the bread-and-butter issues.
One resident of the Seapatrick estate is outraged at the prospect of paying for water rates and angry because he says the DUP has done nothing to oppose it.
"But we're all over the local papers saying how we oppose water rates," Mr Simpson says. "We oppose them day and dailys."
"It doesn't matter, as you have my vote anyway," the resident adds as the discussion concludes.
NATIONALIST BATTLEGROUND:There have been predictions that a third nationalist seat could be won in next month's elections due to the growth in the nationalist population in the area. The SDLP is fielding two candidates - sitting Assembly member Dolores Kelly and her fellow Craigavon councillor Patrick McAleenan. Sinn Féin is putting up sitting member and Craigavon councillor John O'Dowd and Banbridge councillor Desmond Ward. Although it's claimed that Sinn Féin has its eye on the second Ulster Unionist seat, some in the SDLP camp believe it is its existing seat which is the focus of Sinn Féin efforts. Sinn Féin feels it has spread itself through the constituency a bit more this time, as Dessie Ward is a councillor on Banbridge District Council. SDLP is hoping its voters will get out on polling day as it blames the stay-at-homes for its poor showing in Upper Bann in 2003.
The Republican Sinn Féin candidate, former prisoner Barry Toman, is not expected to cause a serious dent in Sinn Féin's vote.
UNIONIST BATTLEGROUND:Upper Bann became synonymous with electoral upset in the general election of 2005 after the DUP's David Simpson defeated Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, the constituency's MP for 15 years. Mr Trimble - now Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey - resigned as party leader after the humiliating blow and is not running in these elections. His absence this year is expected to have an impact on the unionist vote - Mr Trimble carried a significant personal vote and it remains to be seen whether his voters will stay at home, vote Ulster Unionist nonetheless or vote DUP. The sitting Assembly member, UUP Samuel Gardiner, is joined on the ticket by Arnold Hatch and George Savage. Mr Savage was elected in 1998 but lost in 2003. Sitting DUP Assembly members David Simpson and Stephen Moutray are joined on their ticket by John McCrum jnr, a councillor in the traditionally Ulster Unionist area of Banbridge.
Two Independent candidates from the unionist community, Suzanne Peeples and David Calvert, aren't expected to cause any major upsets.
WILD CARDS:None, as small parties do not do well in Upper Bann - in fact, the Portadown Times newspaper brands the Conservatives and Green Party, who have put up David Fry and Helen Corry respectively, "no-hopers".But the Alliance Party believes the middle ground in Upper Bann, thin as it may be, should have a voice. Its candidate is Sheila McQuaid, whose husband Frank gained 571 votes in the election of 2003.
Anti-agreement unionist candidate David Calvert has attracted a supporter from the Democratic Unionists, Craigavon councillor Mark Russell, who has left the party to campaign for Mr Calvert.
OUTGOING MEMBERS:
*David Trimble UUP (21.1%)
Samuel Gardiner UUP (5.4%)
Stephen Moutray DUP (10.8%)
David Simpson MP DUP (13.6%)
John O'Dowd Sinn Féin (12.7%)
Dolores Kelly SDLP (8.4%)
* Denotes those also elected in 1998. Quota: 15 per cent.