Top Mid Ulster Shinner Francie Molloy will be well on his way to Westminster later this week, but what type of Sinn Féin will he representing?
Even the most fanatical Unionist will admit that the Shinners will hold the Mid Ulster Common by-election on Thursday, and all that remains to be mopped up is the size of Molloy's majority.
Outgoing MP and deputy First Minister Marty McGuinness, the former self-confessed Derry Provo, is not going to risk his coveted 15,000 plus vote majority.
It would take a highly imaginary set of circumstances to transform this ultra safe Sinn Féin stronghold into either a Stoop or Unionist Unity marginal.
For a start, the agreed Unionist candidate would need to be guaranteed at least a 98% Protestant turnout.
He would also need SDLP runner Patsy McGlone to both hold his personal vote and prevent widespread tactical vote by nationalists to give the Unionist Unity man a political bloody nose.
And there would need to be a very significant apathy or vote spoiling campaign by Tyrone dissidents to create an even split between the dissident 'vote', Stoops and Shinners to give the Unionist even a snowball's chance in Hell of either obliterating McGuinness' majority or squeak the seat by a handful of votes.
The bitter reality pill Unionists must swallow is that the best they can hope for is to significantly increase their total, combined vote of just over 13,000 in the 2010 General Election.
That could lead to a network of Unionist Unity candidates being agreed by the DUP and UUP across the North.
But if the Unionist vote drops again, it will place even more strains on the leaderships of Peter Robinson and Mike Nesbitt, resulting in a rough Ulster Unionist Council AGM for Nesbitt in Belfast later this month.
An outstanding victory for Unionists – or republican dissidents – would be to slash Molloy's victory margin by 10,000 to around 5,000 votes, thereby converting Mid Ulster into a Shinner marginal.
The choice of Molloy as the mainstream republican runner is proof positive that Sinn Féin is publicly becoming worried by the rise of the dissident factions.
Molloy is a traditional, old-fashioned republican who will appeal strongly to Mid Ulster's hardline Provo heartlands.
Across many areas of the North, Sinn Féin is rebranding itself as a new millennium version of the democratic republican movement, the Irish Independence Party, once fronted by former Brit officer John Turnley.
The leading Protestant nationalist and Larne councillor was shot dead at Carnlough by the UDA in 1980, amid allegations of security forces collusion.
A much more glamorous choice than the aging Molloy would have been the Shinners' squeaky clean blonde bombshell and Stormont Farming Minister Michelle O'Neill.
Michelle the Magnificent represents 'new look Sinn Féin' and a number of her decisions on agriculture have made her popular even among Unionists.
Then again, maybe Big Francie is to become the Shinner Fall Guy in the same way de Valera sent Michael Collins to London to negotiate the Treaty.
It's only a matter of time before the Brit establishment concocts a route for Sinn Féin MPs to take their Westminster seats in the same way the party ditched its lunatic absentionist policy towards the Dáil and Stormont.
Rather than Marty getting the flak for dumping absentionism, the Shinners can test the ground by pushing Big Francie into the front line.
March 7 will be the most significant election result in the North since Bobby Sands became an MP in 1981.
