THE Patrician Hall in Carrickmore is a versatile place. It has hosted discos, plays, concerts and even paramilitary shows of strength. At the height of the Troubles, masked IRA men would appear on stage. The crowd always [erupted cheering.
These days it's elections they get excited about in Carrickmore. There was standing room only in the Patrician Hall recently as about 300 people gathered at a public meeting to launch Sinn Fein's campaign for the new constituency of West Tyrone.
Both nationalist parties are eager to make the seat their own. They were neck-in-neck in last year's Forum elections - the SDLP topped the poll with 11,600 votes, just 100 more than Sinn Fein.
But Sinn Fe' in's candidate, Mr Pat Doherty, had no doubt about who was now ahead. It was like two cars stopped at traffic lights he said. When the lights turned green, Sinn Fein was revved up with a full petrol tank; the SDLP's rusty old banger was low on fuel.
On Monday it was announced that the Westminster election would be held on May 1st but Sinn Fein had already long been campaigning.
There was a strong youth presence and community feel to the meeting in Carrickmore. Ballot tickets were drawn for a miniature Irish cottage made by H-Block inmates. Sinn Fein gave a polished performance. Its activists were on first-name terms with everyone in the audience. Mr Gerry Adams was there to support Mr Doherty.
Sinn Fein is running a highly-charged campaign. It presented its main opponent not as the SDLP or the unionist parties but the British government. In West Tryone, Pat Doherty was standing against John Major. By voting Sinn Fein, nationalists could register their disapproval of Britain's handling of the peace process.
The "Drumcree factor" was alive and kicking. Drumcree had vindicated the republican analysis of the Northern state and unionist intransigence, Mr Adams told the crowd. By voting Sinn Fein, nationalists could say "no" to unionist domination.
It was stressed that the tide of history was moving in favour of nationalists and that an all-Ireland settlement was inevitable. "We will be the generation which succeeds in bringing an end to British rule," Mr Adams said.
He didn't explain how this would happen but he sounded so confident that nobody bothered to question him. Mr Adams suggested that one final push by nationalists could bring progress. It would be very difficult for London not to talk to a party with MPs. There was a strong feel-good message to his speech. Sinn Fein was no longer the party of protest and resistance, it was the party of change, he stated.
West Tyrone is a huge sprawling, mainly rural constituency. It comprises Omagh and Strabane district council areas. With a large Catholic majority, it should be safely nationalist. However, there are 15,000 unionist votes in the constituency and if SDLP/Sinn Fe' in support remains evenly split, a joint unionist candidate could win.
In last year's Forum election, the UUP came just ahead of the DUP. At the moment, two Beragh businessmen, Mr William Thompson of the Ulster Unionists and the DUP's Mr Oliver Gibson intend to run. However, there is speculation that they might stand down if their party leaders could agree on a unionist unity candidate.
This prospect has put extra punch into the SDLP and Sinn Fein camps. Both are aware of the "snowball effect". In the sectarian world of West Tyrone, the nationalist who emerges as the strongest candidate early on will win the vital votes from his rival which could secure the seat.
The SDLP candidate, Mr Joe Byrne, the party's vice-chairman, thinks that he is the front-runner. Whereas Sinn Fein's Mr Doherty is from Donegal, Mr Byrne (43) is the local boy made good. "I was born and reared in Castlederg," he says.
"I've taught in Omagh College for 18 years. Thousands of students have passed through my classes. I know a great many local families. I run the college's Gaelic football team. I'm a Tyrone person through and through. People here want someone from their midst as their MP."
There is a strong feeling that Tyrone, like the west of the Bann generally, has long suffered official neglect. Mr Byrne, a local councillor and SDLP member since he was 18, stresses his record: "I've consistently hammered government agencies like the Department of Economic Development and the Industrial Development Board. If elected I could make all the difference for West Tyrone.
He stresses that, unlike Mr' Doherty, he will take his seat at Westminster.
Republicans argue that a Sinn Fe' in politician visiting the House of Commons press gallery receives more publicity in a day than the average SDLP MP secures in a year. Mr Doherty says that only terminally ill MPs have worse attendance records at Westminster than the SDLP.
He criticises Mr Byrne's willingness to take an oath of allegiance to the British queen, "the same queen who heads up the British army, the RUC and the Royal Irish Regiment and oppresses the people of Tyrone every day". Mr Byrne argues that it's a bitter pill which must be swallowed.
The SDLP believes that the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire in the North will cost Sinn Fein votes. "Nationalists feel that by restarting violence, the IRA has let unionists off the hook. People who once campaigned for Sinn Fein have offered to work for me," Mr Byrne says.
A republican in Carrickmore accuses the SDLP candidate of having ideas above his station. "Pat Doherty is a member of Sinn Fein's national leadership. Joe Byrne is just an over-ambitious local councillor who shouldn't give up his day job. He doesn't count in the peace process. Pat Doherty does."
Republicans deny that not being a local is a disadvantage to Mr Doherty. He has a rural, GAA background and, living in Donegal, he empathises with Tyrone's feelings of marginalisation, they say.