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Argentina's first lady clear favorite for next president

Senator Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, the wife of outgoing President Nestor Kirchner, on Thursday launched a campaign for her husband's job, with ambitious promises to reform Argentina.

Fernandez, 54, already the clear favorite to succeed her husband, kicked off in her hometown of La Plata the campaign to become Argentina's first woman elected to the presidency.

She spoke in a packed theater to the applause of 1,700 party leaders and flanked by pictures of Eva and Juan Domingo Peron, the power couple that ran Argentine politics, unions and the economy during the 1940s and 1950s.

Her platform, sketched out in a 45-minute speech, was ambitious: a change in "Argentines' cultural paradigms" and "recovery of our self-esteem, work and jobs, as the axis of the Argentina that is to come."

She was interrupted repeatedly by applause, the most tumultuous coming after recognizing the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who for decades protested the loss of their children at the hands of Argentina's 1976 to 1982 military dictatorship.

Images of Fernandez speaking were shown on giant screens for supporters outside the theater, as the sound of fireworks echoed through the city.

On the streets, 100 days before Election Day on October 28, campaign posters bearing her photo and the slogan: "Change is coming soon," began popping up.

Her husband presided over about 8 percent annual growth, as Argentina climbed out of its 2001 to 2002 economic crisis, the worst since the Great Depression, and which led to a quick succession of presidents toppled by violent street demonstrations.

He also stared down harsh terms the IMF sought to impose, and lifted the lid on military men who had tortured and murdered suspected opponents to the military regime.

Like US senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton, to whom Cristina is unavoidably compared, she "is a woman who has political goals and enough substance to govern this country," Kirchner's chief of staff said.

Within Argentina, where image is at least as important as platform, Fernandez will more frequently be compared with Evita Peron, the second wife of president Juan Domingo Peron, and a symbol as magical as Peron himself, whose name remains the unofficial moniker of the Justicialista Party.

Indeed, Fernandez is likely to prevail, because she is often seen as the dominant partner in her marriage, according to longtime friend and lawmaker Dante Dovena.

"Nestor was known as `Cristina's husband'" for years, Dovena said, detailing the pair's differences.

"Cristina has a more open mind than he does. He is more closed, more dogmatic," Dovena said.

Fernandez leads the polls over other candidates. Polls also say Kirchner would have been re-elected, but he decided not to run.

Kirchner, 57, denies that health may have played into his decision, saying simply that his wife "will make a better president."

If she wins, Fernandez would become the first woman to be elected to lead Argentina.
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