Cool, calm, collected... and he's missed it!

Alban Maguinness just can't believe his luck. He's the SDLP Euro candidate and he's concentrating on reversing the Party's worrying slide in the polls recently.

First up, he gets touted as a future Justice Minister. Alban, ever the pro, went on Nolan earlier this week and did the 'one never seeks office, but if one were approached, and one's colleagues were supportive, one would of course... etc...' line. He is leading his party's drive for the ministry after all.

And now he gets presented with a great pic op. Euro Parliament President Hans Pottering is on a 2-day visit here next week and will address MLAs on Monday.

As none of the other main candidates are MLAs, this should be a great opportunity for Alban to mug a pic and issue the press release that contains the 'I-raised-very-many-major-issues-of-interest-to-the-nationalist-community-during-a-very-positive-exchange' claim.

It's a sitter for the SDLP. How will the other party's mug this Pottering guy for their campaigns? What will they claim as their issues when they meet him? Good opportunity to assess the tone of each Party's campaign and how commited to Europe they are (ie. willingness to shamelessly court Euro big wigs in the local media)...