Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards says the One Bermuda Alliance needs his vast political experience at the helm as it tackles the Progressive Labour Party at the next general election.He described his opponent, Senator Craig Cannonier, as unknown and unproven, warning he doesn’t have the background to lead the official Opposition into battle.Mr Richards also believes the OBA’s best chance of victory is to pitch its Finance spokesman directly against Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox in an election race likely to be dominated by discussion of the economy.Tomorrow’s OBA leadership contest comes two years after Mr Richards’ defeat to Kim Swan at a United Bermuda Party conference.Mr Richards believes his bid fell short in 2009 because too few people bought into his plan to reform the Opposition; he insists the demise of the UBP and formation of the OBA shows they’re now on his page.The Devonshire East MP told The Royal Gazette: “I’m the right person for leadership of the OBA at this point in history because of the circumstances of Bermuda.“It used to be that people in Bermuda were accustomed to financial matters being taken care of.“But we find ourselves in a very precarious situation with little or no economic growth, Government finances in tatters and unemployment rising.“The confidence of Bermudians is at an all-time low.“I believe Bermudians are looking for a team that can turn this thing around. The reason that I should be the leader is because of the overarching issue of the economy which faces Bermuda.“The Premier is also Minister of Finance and she has been Minister of Finance for six or seven years and has presided over this debacle.“The leader of the OBA must be able to speak with authority on the economy. The leader cannot lead our party at this time and have to defer the central issue of the next election to somebody else, and that somebody would likely be me.“As the economy is the essential issue, and the Minister of Finance is the Premier, it seems to me the leader of the OBA should be in a corresponding position.“The other reason is the issue of experience. This position of our party shouldn’t be viewed as just somebody running for the leader of an Opposition party.“Some months ahead, there’s going to be a general election. The people who decide on the leader of the OBA should view the person as the next Premier of Bermuda and it just can’t stand up to scrutiny to have someone who has virtually no political experience to step forward to lead a team of people in a national contest.“I have got experience in politics. I have experience that goes back a number of years and I have held portfolios that are not just Finance. I’m not just a one-dimensional guy.“There’s a very distinct contrast in experience levels of the two candidates that has to be taken into account.”Sen Cannonier has said the people believe it’s time for the fighting between the PLP and the Opposition to stop.Mr Richards argued: “That’s very much of a contrast with me. I have been a fighter my whole life. I have fought for the right things in Parliament and in public service.“When you believe in something, you have to fight for it. Just because you believe in it doesn’t mean nobody’s going to oppose you.“I intend to fight for Bermudians. I will fight for Bermudians and fight for what is right and for a better life for Bermudians.“I’m certain the PLP are not going to let us say what we want. They are certainly not going to let us take over the Government just because we want it. We are going to have to fight for it and I will lead that fight.”Many believe Sen Cannonier represents the OBA’s best hope of representing a fresh start, because he has no connections to the UBP; he was outside of politics his whole life before becoming Bermuda Democratic Alliance leader last year.But Mr Richards pointed to his record as Telecommunications Minister under the UBP Government and lengthy spells in the Senate and House of Assembly while in Opposition.“Some people say that we need a fresh new face to lead a new party. I think people like that are too focused on cosmetics and superficialities,” he said.“If we were in a time where everything was goodness and light in Bermuda, with plenty of jobs, everyone making money, everything was safe and everything was okay with the education system, we could perhaps pay more attention to image and superficialities.“In a time when we are in difficulty, I believe Bermudians are going to drill deeper than mere image. They are going to look for substance. They are going to look for a proven product.“But the OBA is a new party. We have a new way of doing things. We have a new approach to politics and we have a lot of new faces.“It doesn’t require a leader who is unknown. The issue isn’t new and old; it’s known and unknown, proven and unproven. They are the issues.“Bermuda is in a time of need. We need to focus on the actual ability of the OBA to deliver.“The skipper of a team isn’t the team. He’s the leader of the team but he isn’t the team. We can be and are new, even if we have somebody like myself who’s been around a little while.”Mr Richards was widely expected to win the 2009 contest, because Mr Swan had overseen a string of high-profile resignations from MPs.However, his speech focusing on the need for reform was rejected in favour of Mr Swan’s call for people to roll up their sleeves, and he lost 41 votes to 34.Mr Richards reflected: “I have learned in life that failures are opportunities. You try to do something and you don’t succeed, first of all you keep trying.“Secondly, you try to find out what you did wrong. As it relates to the leadership contest with Kim Swan, I have done quite a bit of soul-searching, introspection to find out what went wrong.“The people that I was talking to most were not yet ready for change. I came to the meeting and characterised myself as an agent for change.“There were not enough people that bought into that at that time. Here we are two years later with a new party so, yes, we were able to convince enough people that a change was necessary.“I’m not approaching this like I did that particular occasion. I have learned, I have grown.“I think people are now on board with the idea that change is necessary. The OBA represents a manifestation of the success of the change argument. If people hadn’t bought into that argument, we would still have the old UBP. The UBP is what it was. We have moved on from that.“My argument didn’t carry that day, but it did carry. It eventually did, but we had to keep talking to people to let them understand what we needed to do to move forward.“I see you presented that Bob Richards is a failed politician. I want you to say that I use failure as an opportunity to grow and improve myself and to better understand people. That’s what I have tried to do.“I’m my own man. I have had a career where I’m my own man. I have my own company for better or for worse. Nobody manipulates me. What you see with me is what you get.”