IN the towns and villages of MidUlster over the next three weeks, one of the fiercest election battles since partition will be waged.
Both Sinn Fein and the SDLP are trying to oust the sitting DUP MP, the Rev William McCrea.
Although Mid Ulster is 60 per cent Catholic, the split nationalist vote has ensured that Mr McCrea has held the seat for 14 years. But recent boundary changes have made the constituency even more green.
Judging by last May's Forum election results, Mr McCrea should retain his seat. But it will be close. If one nationalist candidate emerges as the clear frontrunner early on, he could receive a large tactical vote.
"The search is on for the champion Taig in Mid Ulster," says an SDLP activist.
Nationalist determination to unseat Mr McCrea solidified last September when he shared a platform with the loyalist dissident, Billy Wright, now serving an eight year jail sentence for issuing death threats.
Mr McCrea's action was endorsed by grassroots loyalists but even moderate SDLP supporters were furious, says an observer: "Here was our MP standing shoulder to shoulder with someone who had trumpeted his support for the UVF."
Mr McCrea's stance might normally cost him the votes of middle class unionists but the candidacy of Sinn Fein's Mr Martin McGuinness changes everything. "Many moderate unionists might not be comfortable with Willie but the thought of someone like Martin McGuinness as their MP will make them come out and vote for him [McCrea] in their droves," predicts a unionist.
Mr McCrea (48) is not playing up Sinn Fein's electoral challenge in public, probably because portraying Mr McGuinness as his main opponent would make more Catholics vote for the Sinn Fein man. He presents the SDLP as his main rival, although on the privacy of unionist doorsteps, there will surely be a different line.
Already guaranteed the militant vote, Mr McCrea's campaign seems aimed at moderate unionists. There are no blood and thunder speeches. He stresses basic issues. "I stand on my record on unemployment, education, and the health service," he says. He emphasises his record as a hard working MP. His outspokenness ensures that "at least everyone in the House of Commons knows about Mid Ulster", he jokes.
The combined unionist vote in the Forum elections was 16,750. Sinn Fein received 13,000 votes and the SDLP 12,500. Sinn Fein says that it alone can defeat Mr McCrea. It is targeting first time and floating voters and the 6,000 nationalists who did not vote last time.
Mr McGuinness (46) is a member of his party's ard chomhairle and its chief negotiator. Sinn Fein activists are upbeat about their candidate. "Martin commands respect and is a high profile politician," says one.
Mr McGuinness says he is receiving "the best reception that I have ever got". He denies that voters will be put off by IRA violence and says they want to register their anger at the British government.
The SDLP's candidate, Mr Denis Haughey, stresses that unlike Mr McGuinness he was born and reared in Mid Ulster, was active in the civil rights campaign there, "and will still be around when all the visitors have gone home".
Mr Haughey (52), gave up teaching to work full time for the SDLR He says that around 2,500 "soft" SDLP voters switched to Sinn Fein in the Forum elections to encourage republicans on to the constitutional path.
"Those people will be returning to us in this election," he predicts. "They feel betrayed by Sinn Fein because the IRA broke its de facto ceasefire in the North a few months after the election."
He believes the return of these votes will bring him within striking distance of Mr McCrea. He also hopes to capture some of the 1,500 votes which go to the smaller parties like Alliance, Labour and the Women's Coalition.
In previous Westminster elections, Sinn Fein supporters in both Newry and Armagh and South Down voted tactically and supported the SDLP to unseat a unionist. But there is no history of SDLP voters doing likewise en masse for a republican contender.
Sinn Fein, however, insists that it will make history. "Their confidence is breathtaking," one observer says. They really believe they have the seat in the bag. The people most surprised on May 2nd if Martin McGuinness isn't AMP for Mid Ulster will be Sinn Fein."