Ecuador

The front runner in Ecuador’s presidential campaign, Rafael Correa, insulted President Bush in a television interview, calling him “dimwitted” and adding:

"Calling Bush the devil is offending the devil," said Correa, a U.S. trained economist who leads 12 other candidates in polls ahead of the Oct. 15 election. He said "the devil is evil, but intelligent.”

I’m assuming he figures, like Chávez, that a jab at Bush will play well at home. I wonder which is worse: a presidential candidate who weakly tries to copy Hugo Chávez by making inflammatory statements or the fact that the Bush administration’s poor image abroad and strongarm tactics make such statements easy to make.

Incidentally, Boz shows current polls putting Correa at 26%, and about 6-8 points ahead of his nearest challenger (Leon Roldos) with several others getting double digits. To win without a run-off, you need either over 50%, or over 40% if your nearest challenger is at least 10% behind.