At long last, former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang has decided to take the plunge, get her toes wet and her hands dirty. For her, there was no other choice if she was going to remain politically relevant in Hong Kong.
In 2005, she intrigued everyone for months by keeping them guessing about whether she would run for chief executive. After she announced her decision not to stand, public interest in her flagged. Since then, she has made pronouncements, speaking for herself and her core group. But public attention inevitably dropped, as she was neither an official nor a candidate.
That is why she acknowledged, when announcing her candidacy last week: 'Without a platform, your views will be brushed aside by Beijing and the SAR government.'
Between now and December, her candidacy will provide a platform; after that, hopefully, her status as a lawmaker will make people listen when she speaks.
One reason why Mrs Chan decided to run was to influence the outcome of the green paper consultations on democratic reforms in Hong Kong. Since the consultation period will end on October 10 - almost two months before the by-election - she must make full use of the coming weeks to revive interest and intensify discussion in the community.
She published an open letter to Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen last month, saying the green paper did not live up to his pledge to set out three possible models for attaining universal suffrage.
Now, she and her advisers must complete a report on the green paper by October 10. After that, she will need to follow closely how the Tsang administration interprets the public response.