Constituency profile: West Tyrone
West Tyrone was one of the main Sinn Féin versus the SDLP combat zones in the 2001 Westminster election. It was viewed as a close-run thing between Mr Pat Doherty and Ms Bríd Rodgers but the Sinn Féin man won comfortably in the end.
Two years on, the Sinn Féin director of elections Mr Sean Begley and his slick team hope to increase republican representation from two to three - electing Mr Brian McMahon to join Mr Doherty and Mr Barry McElduff in the Assembly.
That seems eminently achievable. The party was just short of three quotas in the Westminster and local elections of 2001 and, coupled with local MP Mr Pat Doherty strengthening his hold in West Tyrone and the broader respectability of Sinn Féin, those extra votes can be won.
The obvious target here is outgoing SDLP Assembly member from Strabane, Mr Eugene McMenamin, who, just in passing, is a brother of Derek Dean of the Freshmen.
The SDLP's Mr Joe Byrne would seem pretty safe in his Omagh area. Both Mr Byrne and Mr McMenamin are popular in West Tyrone.
The only outgoing Unionist MLA is Mr Derek Hussey of the UUP, who is running with Mr Bert Wilson. Mr Tom Buchanan and Mr Derek Rainey compete for a DUP seat, with Mr Roy Reid of the Progressive Unionist Party also seeking unionist votes.
Mr Pat Doherty isn't fussed about how Sinn Féin achieves that third seat but reckons that it is just possible that nationalists could win five of the six seats.
It would seem unlikely that unionist representation - one Ulster Unionist and one DUP - would slip so disastrously but Mr Doherty is a shrewd psephologist. He points out that the UUP, DUP and PUP are running five candidates between them. "That's too many. A badly split unionist vote added to a declining unionist population could cost unionists a seat," he says.
Alliance press officer Mr Steven Alexander is flying the centrist flag. Independent candidate Dr Kieran Deeny is campaigning against the downgrading of the Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh. The closure of the hospital is an emotional matter but tribal politics usually relegates such issues in the North. It will be interesting to see if Dr Deeny can at least crack if not break the sectarian mould
