WITH the selection of Senator Michael Scott as the Progressive Labour Party's candidate to run in the upcoming Sandys North by-election to replace former Finance Minister Eugene Cox, it would seem the old maxim about nice guys finishing last has finally proved to be false.

It seems to be the general consensus that Senator Scott is a nice guy ? at least that is the opinion usually expressed whenever the Senator's name comes up. His candidacy also suggests that it pays to be a loyal party supporter and to be patient in the knowledge that your time will eventually come. He has failed in all four previous attempts to win a seat in the House of Assembly.

It must have been upsetting to Senator Scott, when in the last General Election, he was passed over in favour of Randy Horton to run in the new constituency that incorporated parts of Somerset and Southampton West. He had, of course, contested the old Southampton West constituency on a number of occasions for the PLP. But if Senator Scott, the Minister of Legislative Affairs, harboured any such disappointments, he hid them well and carried on about his duties as a Government senator in the Senate.

Of course, it also helps a politician's prospects if your Premier is considered to be a nice guy, one who has ? in stark contrast to his predecessor ? actively cultivated a feel-good feeling around the PLP Government.

If Senator Scott is elected to the House of Assembly in the by-election (and most people would be inclined to believe this will be the result in this long-time PLP stronghold) then this will present Premier Alex Scott with the opportunity to appoint a woman to the Senate to replace him, given that so many put themselves forward as potential candidates.

If this were to take place, it would of course leave the United Bermuda Party political opposition high and dry as the only one that does not have a woman representative in the Senate and that would not look too good for its image of being the so-called New UBP.

The UBP's selection of Corin Smith to be its candidate in Sandys North is something of a curiosity. Not because Mr. Smith is a young black man running for the UBP but because he is reputed to be something of a black political activist.

The intriguing question now is: Will he move his black political activism and agenda over to the UBP? The answer to this question is intriguing because one wonders what will be the reaction of the UBP's traditional white political support base?

Mr. Smith is also reputed to be a supporter of Independence for Bermuda and this issue has traditionally always represented the political kiss of death for any UBP politician from that same political support base.

Of course, all of this points to the UBP's continued preoccupation with the question of race and politics in Bermuda's elections. This is one of the many problems the UBP faces in its quest to regain control of the Government.

With Premier Scott as the leader of the PLP Government, the Opposition must long for the days when it had a PLP leader who behaved as if she was under siege and PLP Cabinet Ministers were not as free to talk as they seem to be under the new leadership.

One could not help but notice in the recent Cabinet appointments at Government House how free newly-appointed Ministers seemed to be as they talked to the Press (and by extension us, the electorate) about the new challenges they will face and what they hope to do about their various portfolios.

Recently, I read the Premier's speech he made before a Rotary Club luncheon. If anything pointed to the new direction this Government seems to want to go in, this was it. It was the closest I have seen any Premier come to an American-style State of the Union speech and it was not written by foreign advisers.

The Premier touched on some important social issues which, for a long time, left a huge vacuum in Government's agenda that the UBP Opposition filled. The Government badly let down its traditional supporters by failing to address these issues during its first term as Bermuda's Government.

For instance, by failing to come to grips with Bermuda's housing crisis (or even recognising the magnitude of the problem) and ignoring public education every bit as much as the UBP did, the PLP was seen to turn its back on its core constituency.

in his speech, Mr. Scott touched on these topics along with the need to maintain open Government, fairness and accountability in Bermuda. Economically, the Premier talked about Government's relationship with international insurance and reinsurance businesses based here and his desire to strengthen tourism.

These are important issues. But there were no words on black economic empowerment. That proved to be such a vote-winner in the run-up to the last election that one wonders what plans the Government has in this regard. Or was it just electioneering?

Also missing from his address was what Government would do if the British intervened again in Bermudian affairs like it did with respect to the appointment of the new Chief Justice. Does the Government have plans in place? Or will we be treated to a re-run of the Chief Justice situation in which the Government just reacts in an after-the-fact manner to a particular situation?

Of course, the most important thing coming up on Bermuda's political agenda will be the announcement of the Budget. In many ways this will be the late Finance Minister's last Budget although presented by the new Finance Minister, his daughter Paula Cox. Will we see higher taxes? Or will Bermuda continue on the steady-as-she-goes fiscal course charted by Mr. Cox in recent years?

The Premier's speech before the Rotary was full of optimism and faith and confidence in the Bermudian people to see our country through any rough times ahead.I, too, have that faith. But it is tempered by the realisation that as a country we may be facing the most tempestuous time in our history with our fate largely out of our hands thanks, in part, to the emergence of Bermuda as a possibly key election issue in the US Presidential campaign.