Politics personals

"I want someone from Santa Fe -- and if it's a woman, that's better." Sounds like a bi-curious personal ad, but no: it's Hermes Binner, candidate of the Progressive Front for governor of Santa Fe Province in the upcoming 2007 elections. Binner, a national Deputy and former mayor of Rosario (twice), is the figurehead of the Socialist Party and knows that he calls the shots, being the only one with real chances to win now since the Peronists (in a long-awaited but still surprising self-foot-shooting act) allowed the Ley de Lemas to be repealed. However, the Socialist Party is not extremely strong outside Rosario, which with 1/3 of the voters in the province is not enough to win the election; therefore, they've had to ally with the Radicals. These guys, who by now only deserve their name because of the radically messed-up state in which they left Argentina in recent times when they were in power (twice), have a few characters among them who feel cocky enough to challenge Binner to accept that they, and only they, will choose Binner's companion candidate for the vice-governor's office.

When Binner first stated his choice, the Radicals ignored him. Radical Senator Carlos Fascendini said that, regardless what Binner "may have said", they'd choose. Then he also said "The candidate to vice-governor is me." Fascendini is a man, which is not that important given Binner's bi-ness, but he's from Esperanza, not from Santa Fe City, so maybe there'll be trouble. Or maybe not; it's still a year from the elections, and that's close to eternity for ever-changing Argentine politics...