By-elections often feature intriguing candidates and bitter struggles (see Bagehot), but few rival the match-up in the contest for the Westminster seat of Mid-Ulster that will take place on March 7th. The outgoing mp is Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, who has held the seat since 1997 but is quitting Westminster to concentrate on the devolved assembly in Belfast. The race to replace him is a piercing, but also optimistic, reminder of the province's past.
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