Alleged Poisoner Pol. Comeback in Ukraine w/ help from Repub "Strategist"!

[snot]

From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/world/europe/30ukraine.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin :

You'll recall how a few years ago, Yushchenko's opponents tried to poison him, then there was a rigged election in which he lost to Yanukovich, and then Ukrainians protested massively and a new election was held, which Yushchenko won. Well, Yanukovich is back.

I'd be curious about who owns most of the media in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Reinvents Himself

KIEV, Ukraine, Sept. 29 — Once a divisive figure reviled by some here as a shady reactionary and Kremlin pawn, Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovich has turned into arguably the nation’s most popular politician.

(snip)

But Mr. Yanukovich has not done it all on his own. From an anonymous office off Kiev’s main square, a seasoned American political strategist who was once a senior aide in Senator Bob Dole’s Republican presidential campaign has labored for months on a Yanukovich makeover.

(snip)

Mr. Manafort is by no means the only well-known American strategist lured to Kiev by the prospect of sizable fees and the chance to shape the course of a young and tumultuous democracy.

President Yushchenko’s party, Our Ukraine, has received advice from the firm run by Bill Clinton’s pollster, Stan Greenberg; from Stephen E. Schmidt, campaign manager for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California; and from Neil Newhouse, a pollster who worked for Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, when he was Massachusetts governor.

(more at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/world/europe/30ukraine.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin )

[GeminiProgressive]

1. personally

I don't think either side is anything special..

[snot]

2. You don't find it interesting

that the guy who may have been responsible first for an attempted murder of his rival and then for stealing an election is now making a big comeback with the help of Repub strategists?

Regardless of either candidate's merits, I worry that we're seeing a widescale export of many of the most egregious, diseased aspects of our current election system . . .

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

3. I looked for a pic of Yushchenko to see if his face has improved any.

He looks much improved since the poisoning. This pic is from today, after he voted.

http://afp.google.com/media/ALeqM5hp-Ys7_HgtkQA2yO1LDKalId6BVw?size=m
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gZcA_Nd9ishoPrYCtQPXEYuljIlA