ARGENTINA:There is nothing but praise, mingling with awe for Cristina Fernández Kirchner, the woman expected to be the next president, writes Jude Webberin Santa Fe, Argentina
It's raining and cold, not a very inviting evening for a political rally. Hundreds of people are streaming off buses and into a dingy sports hall on the edge of town to cheer the woman everyone expects to be Argentina's next president.
Most are working class, the bedrock of the government's political support and the focus of its message. They have been bussed into the northern riverside town of Santa Fe in a display of allegiance to the mighty political machine of Nestor Kirchner, the president, and his wife, Cristina Fernández, who is set to be crowned his successor in elections on October 28th.
Cristina, as she is known, is expected to secure an easy victory of more than 10 points over the splintered opposition with her pledge to advance the pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-export policies championed by her husband in his four years in office.
Those policies have achieved a dramatic consumer-led recovery from the country's 2001-2002 economic crisis, delivering fiscal and trade surpluses, record reserves and a Chinese-style rate of growth.
Among the crowd are postal workers in work-issue fleece jackets, stout women who are grass-roots political stalwarts and plenty of pensioners. Some are cartoneros, among the poorest victims of the economic crisis, who scrape a living recycling waste paper and cardboard.
There is, however, no mention of Argentines' chief concerns, including law and order and the high inflation that hits the poor hardest. There is nothing but praise, mingling with awe, for a glamorous, intelligent woman they see as the political successor - though not the reincarnation - of Evita.
Evita, the wife of former president Juan Perón, is still revered as a patron saint of social justice, and the Peronist blend of authoritarianism, nationalism and populism that has shaped Argentina for 60 years and inspired the Kirchners, is still the most formidable political show in town.
Images of Perón and Evita are on flags for sale outside the hall and in a video shown inside underlining Ms Fernández's central message that it is time for Argentines to pull together to further her husband's achievements.
She never utters the word "Peronism" - she does not have to. Her followers know she is a lifelong party militant and is preaching to the converted in Santa Fe.
"She was spectacular - 10 out of 10," enthused Juan Vega, a local government worker. "I liked what she said about jobs, production, public works. I have no doubt that she will deliver."
Ms Fernández arrived late but unscathed, after her private aircraft skidded off the runway on landing. She brushed off the incident, skilfully switching between flirtatious body language - fingering her long hair, beaming, blowing kisses and waving - with a serious expression of concern as she told the crowd in a polished, off-the-cuff speech that though her husband's government had done a lot "there's still a lot to do".
"Now a new era is beginning . . . we have to build a better way together. It's time politicians stopped being the problem and started being the solution," she said, to wild applause. Even children waved flags, some of them bigger than they were.
She gave no specifics of how she would pull off what will be a tough balancing act of taming inflation while gradually increasing frozen domestic utilities and energy tariffs, while also boosting investment as the economy heads for a period of slower growth.
Indeed, most of her campaign has been spent courting foreign dignitaries and business leaders to show her as a world-class leader and safe guardian for Argentina. Only now, at the close of her campaign, has she started to criss-cross the country to focus on domestic voters.
Even if the party atmosphere was a little stage-managed, the audience was delighted with a performance that ended with her kissing supporters.
Lidia Cáceres said she had been bowled over. When Ms Fernández launched her campaign in a theatre in July, she admitted she had felt "marginalised".
"I saw all the intellectuals inside but us militants who are going to put her in power were outside," she said. "Today she changed. She was more with the people."