BRASIL: Serra Bopped On Head In Rio, Dilma Expanding Lead After Lag.

BBC/     The presidential campaign continues heating-up for the 31 October election.
          Jose Serra, trailing Dilma Rousseff in the latest presidential polls, was hit on the head by a roll of tape while campaigning in the Rio's Campo Grande district and after a medical check, canceled his schedule.
    Serra also stated that:"This is the assault troop of the Workers' Party."
    Dilma's lead over Serra increased to 12 percentage points from 8 percentage points, according to a Vox Populi poll. Her support rose to 51 percent from 48 percent from the previous poll taken Oct.10-11.
     Another poll, from Sensus opinion-research, shows Rousseff with 46.8% of the vote, compared with 41.8% for Serra. A total of 4.1% of respondents said they would cast blank or voided protest votes, and 7.2% were undecided. With those results, Sensus said the poll indicated Rousseff would win the election with 52.8% of the so-called valid vote against Serra's 47.2%.

BRASIL: 1ST Update: Serra Denies Wife Had An Abortion In U.S.

LINK CHANGE/ M.PRESS/UPDATE 18 OCT/
   The surprise twist in the heated presidential contest and abortion debate, that candidate Jose Serra's wife, psychologist and former dancer Chilean-born Mónica Allende had an abortion in the U.S., is being denied by Serra.
   This possible tonic to Dilma's fading popularity over abortion is being compared by Serra's camp to a similiar false accusation against President Lula in 1989.
    During a rally in Rio in September, Allende accused her husband's competition, Dilma Rousseff (pictured with Lula) of "wanting to kill babies" but some of her students have claimed that she admitted to them in 1992 of having an abortion.
  ( An obvious question--Why would she confess such a personal thing to a classroom full of students?).
    But  this heated campaign brought-up even more nastiness recently when a reporter asked Dilma if she was a lesbian. (See previous coverage for that story) 

BRASIL: Serra Chipping Away At Dilma's Slipping Momentum.

BLOOMBERG/
    A new Sensus poll says it all: Serra has 47.7 percent support, way up from the 3 October, first round polling that gave him only 33 percent and 19 percent for the Green Party’s Marina Silva, an evangelical Christian.
   Serra has hammered away at Rousseff's apparent waffle on abortion, corruption and her inexperience in politics.

SEE ALSO, REUTERS report by Raymond Colitt :
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1410339220101014

BRASIL: Serra Pushing Tax Scandal To Slow Rousseff Romp.

BLOOMBERG/ By Andre Soliani and Joshua Goodman /
    Presidential candidate Jose Serra (pictured), looking at a near landslide defeat in October's election, now accuses leading candidate Dilma Rousseff's party of dirty tricks gathering private tax records of his supporters and family. In July, police began an investigation of whether tax officials leaked records of several people close to Serra, including his daughter Veronica and the vice president of his Social Democracy Party.     President Lula has responded: "When someone doesn’t know how to swim, they fall in the water and keep kicking until they drown. That’s what is happening to our adversary (Serra).”
“The scandal is Serra’s life jacket to try to get to a second round,” said consultant Andre Cesar. “But there is no evidence yet that the scandal has hurt Dilma’s campaign.” 

BRASIL: Dilma Rousseff Opens-up 24 Point Lead In Polls Over Serra.

REUTERS/     Dilma Rousseff is all but assured of winning the 3 October presidential election and avoiding a runoff...IF you believe in polls... because she has opened-up a 24 point lead. The latest Ibope survey published in the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper shows Rousseff with 51% versus former Sao Paulo state governor Jose Serra's 27%. Green Party candidate Marina Silva trails with 7%.

BRASIL:1ST UPDATE: Protests Planned Against Broadcast Political Anti-Joking Law; Rousseff Increases Lead To 16 Points In Polls.

AP/ BRADLEY BROOKS/1ST UPDATE/ 18 Aug/       Comedians and satirists are planning protests against an old law that forbids them from making fun of candidates three months ahead of the nation's 3 Oct. election and possible 31 Oct. runoff. The anti-joking law is a relic of Brasil's dictatorship. "Do you know of any other democracy in the world with rules like this?" said Marcelo Tas, the host of a weekly TV comedy show. "If you want to find a bigger joke, you would have to look to Monty Python."  Making fun of candidates on air is punishable by fines up to $112,000 and suspension of a broadcast license. The Internet is not licensed by the government and therefore not covered under the law. Print journalists are exempt.
   Results from a recent Vox Populi  poll show former President Lula cabinet chief, Dilma Rousseff, increasing her lead by 16 points... to 45% from 41%.  Jose Serra's popularity fell to 29% from 33% with only 8% support for Green Party candidate Marina Silva.
For MORE poll Details, SEE:      
 http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a6cJxv5M3tqw

BRASIL:1ST UPDATE: First Presidential TV Debate Called "Boring", Badly Beaten By Soccer.

LINK CHANGE/ M.PRESS/ 7 Aug./    The first presidential debate averaged a low 3 points in Thursday night ratings with analysts calling it "boring." A soccer match opposite it registered a 31!  The four main candidates participated in the first televised presidential debate as polls show the ruling party's candidate Dilma Rousseff, 62, recently pulling away with a double digit lead (10%) over former Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra, 68. Analysts say there was no clear winner in the first TV contest. A candidate must win the 3 October election by more than 50% or a run-off will be held four weeks later. Four more TV debates are scheduled.

BRASIL: Rousseff Takes The Lead Over Serra ... By 5 Points.

LAHT/     For the first time, the ruling Workers Party candidate Dilma Rousseff, leads in polls. She has 39% of voters contacted, 5 points ahead of Jose Serra, according to a survey by the Ibope institute. Marina Silva of the Green Party was third with 7% in the poll taken between July 26-29.

BRASIL: 2 "Visionless" Pols Running For Presidency.

GUARDIAN/CONOR FOLEY/OPINION/
   "José Serra, the former governor of São Paulo and current candidate for the Brazilian presidency, can probably empathise with his disgraced national football team. Like them, he has watched a steady advantage against a far weaker opponent gradually dissipate and then suffered a virtual implosion in his own campaign. Unless he can turn this around quickly he could even suffer a humiliating exit at the first round of voting in October. Brazilian politics are difficult for non-Brazilians to follow, and foreign observers often reduce the political arena to a simple left-right divide. In reality, though, it would be difficult to squeeze a credit card between the politics of Serra and his opponent, Dilma Rousseff, and one of the frustrations for many Brazilians is how little choice they are being offered by the two main blocks. Despite some of Brazil's recent social and economic improvements, it remains one of the most corrupt, violent, bureaucratic and unequal countries on earth, yet neither candidate seems to be offering anything other than a continuation of the status quo."

BRASIL: Green Party's Silva Now Promises Tax Cuts, Pension Reform.

REUTERS/     Perhaps hoping to catch more electoral traction like Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus in Colombia,  Green Party candidate Marina Silva is proposing cutting taxes and social security benefits, thus giving a market-friendly makeover to her platform of clean government and environment. Silva is currently in third place in opinion polls with only 12%, badly trailing President Lula's heir Dilma Rousseff and former S. Paulo governor Jose Serra, who are tied at 37%.

BRASIL: Rousseff Edges Ahead Of Serra in Polls.

REUTERS/     For the first time, Dilma Rousseff has pulled ahead of her challenger in the presidential race, besting former Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra in the polls by a slim 3 percentage points...making it a statistical tie. Rousseff was favored by 38% of voters to 35% for Serra.

BRASIL: Serra Speaks Out About Chavez, Petrobras and Belo Monte Dam.

REUTERS/      Jose Serra, the main opposition candidate in October's presidential election criticized proposed Petrobras reform plans and wants new energy alternatives explored. Serra said Petrobras and energy sector regulator, ANP, were already capable of managing development of deep sea oil reserves. He also believes a new dam on the Amazon's Xingu River is important for electricity supply but wants further debate. Serra praised Hugo Chavez's support of his opponent Rousseff : “I want to say something, I think it’s great, very good for me that Chávez should support Rousseff.” Serra told MercoPress: that “as we all know, this gentleman likes to persecute and shut down all media that does not support him. Let us not forget also that Mr. Chavez could have won many elections but his debut in politics was as leader of a bloody military coup,” underlined Serra. “Only later was he elected”.

BRASIL: Presidential Candidate Serra Calls Mercosur A "Farce."

MERCOPRESS/      In a speech to businessmen, leading presidential candidate Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra said “To keep carrying the burden of this Mercosur in its current condition is senseless. The customs’ union is a farce, except when it is used to impede, to block." Serra claims that the group made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay “has become a barrier for Brasil to sign trade agreements with other countries”...and is full of “cumbersome procedures”.

BRASIL: Profile Of Presidential Candidate Jose Serra.

BLOOMBERG/    Tomorrow, Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra, 68, will officially begin his run to succeed President Lula da Silva in October, leading his competitor and Lula heir Dilma Rousseff, 62, by 9% in recent polls. Analysts say that Serra won't be the anti-Lula candidate and will avoid all fights with him because of Lula's immense popularity. In contrast to Rousseff who has never run for office, Serra can boast of his expansion of Sao Paulo’s infrastructure and tax cutting.

BRASIL: Lula Announces $878 Billion Infrastructure Plan.

BLOOMBERG/     Hoping to energize Dilma Rousseff's lagging campaign to succeed him, President Lula da Silva has launched a massive $878 billion infrastructure upgrade with $530 billion earmarked for between 2011 and 2014. Rousseff is trailing behind Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra in recent opinion polls.
“This is a purely political move,” said political consultant Bolivar Lamounier. “I believe the government conducted researches to assess the political gains this announcement could bring or it wouldn’t have announced it with such pomp.”

BRASIL: Serra Fails To Convince Neves To Run With Him.

REUTERS/   Sao Paulo state Governor Jose Serra failed to convince the young popular governor of Minas Gerais, Aecio Neves, to be his vice-presidential running mate in October's election. Recently, Serra has lost most of his lead over President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff Dilma Rousseff.

BRASIL: Wall Street Favors Serra For President.

BLOOMBERG/
Big U.S. bank JP Morgan says that Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra would probably be better in addressing long-term economic challenges than Lula's favored candidate Dilma Rousseff. Serra, 67, would resolve overlapping taxes, increasing investment and dropping interest rates “to more mundane levels,” says a bank report.

BRASIL: Serra Has Comfortable Lead In Presidential Race Says Pollster.

MERCOPRESS/
A recent Vox Populi poll shows Jose Serra at 39% and a substantial lead over President Lulu cabinet chief Dilma Rousseff with 18% for the October 2010 presidential election. Ciro Gomes of the Socialist Party garners a 17% with Marina Silva trailing at 13%.

BRASIL:Is Jose Serra Playing It Too Low-key In Presidential Race?

GRINGOES/John Fitzpatrick/
"Everybody in Brazil knows that São Paulo state governor Jose Serra is desperate to become the next President. However, he is playing coy and showing no sense of urgency in gaining the official nomination of his PSDB party. By doing so, he is in danger of losing the big lead he currently enjoys over the likely PT candidate, Dilma Rousseff."

Handicapping Brasil's Presidential Race.

FOREIGN POLICY/
"Lula, a former labor negotiator, has given Brazil a new self-confidence at home and abroad, and his government's approval ratings have climbed above 80 percent.
So it's a little curious that polls also show Lula's chief of staff and preferred successor, Dilma Rousseff, trailing far behind Sao Paolo state governor Jose Serra in the race to replace him next October. According to latest figures from Ibope, a respected Brazilian polling firm, 34 percent of respondents say they plan to vote for Serra. Just 15 percent pledge to vote for Dilma, who has recently struggled through a spate of bad publicity and a serious cancer scare. She's never run for office, lacks Lula's charisma, and must hold together a fragmented coalition.
Don't bet against her, though. First, elections are a year away."