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."