Last night I paid my first visit to the Upper Bann constituency, starting in Lurgan with the SDLP, then onto the affluent Portadown Killycomaine Road area with the DUP and then finally got lost in the Drumlin country that holds such towns as Gilford, Lawrencetown, Magheralin, Blackscull and even Waringstown in a vain attempt to catch up with David Trimble in Donaghcloney. By the time I got there it was getting dark, and himself and the UUP canvassers had gone home. So I cut my losses and finally met up the scourge of nationalism online – David Vance!I began to get a sense of what mileage the Unionist candidates are having to put in to this constituency which is really a stitching together of the northern part of County Armagh, including the urban centres of Lurgan and Portadown, and the more rural and countriside of the western portion of County Down. For the nationalists there are large estates in the constituency it pays not to visit for security reasons. Though according to the DUP group, all the parties have visited pretty much all of the mostly middle class Banbridge.
More later.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty