Taipei's mayoral elections are almost five months away, but the two major contenders are getting ready for an arduous campaign.
Both the KMT incumbent Ma Ying-jeou (
As part of the campaign warm-up, Lee is also launching daily attacks on the perceived inadequacies of Ma's government, but Ma has so far reacted coolly or ignored most of Lee's criticisms.
"Why should we play to him and give him more publicity?" the media quoted an unnamed city official as saying.
As the incumbent with a long career dating back to the days of late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Ma has an advantage over his opponent in terms of name recognition.
To make up for his relatively unknown status, Lee is starting his campaign early. A biography about him is set to come out in early September.
Lee was blacklisted by the KMT government for his involvement in US-based pro-Taiwan independence movements in the 1980s. He sneaked back into Taiwan in 1990 and was later elected legislator.
On the KMT side, formal campaigning will not begin until October.
In view of Ma's famous personal charisma, the Lee camp plans to avoid targeting Ma personally. Instead, it will focus on what it believes has been the mediocre performance of his government.
Ma's campaign team claims that Ma's support base is not limited to KMT and PFP voters, but includes some pro-DPP people as well. To avoid offending that part of the electorate, Ma has been low-key when responding to scathing attacks against him from former president Lee Teng-hui (
Lee has vowed to support the DPP candidate.
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