Spain's Rubalcaba launches election campaign {socialist}

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SPAIN_POLITICS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-09-09-30-15

MADRID (AP) -- Spain's outgoing interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba launched his election campaign to become prime minister after being formally declared on Saturday the governing Socialist party's candidate in next year's vote.

The 59-year-old Rubalcaba resigned Friday as interior minister and deputy premier in Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government to focus on the campaign. His resignation is likely to take formal effect early next week.

The Socialists officially chose Rubalcaba as their candidate at a meeting early Saturday and followed the announcement with a large campaign rally at Madrid's main conference center.

Zapatero decided in April, a month before regional and municipal elections, not to seek a third term in office.