Word: veltroni
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...scheduled in April. Though his allies have insisted for the past two years that it's time for new leadership on the Italian center-right, Berlusconi will again be its candidate, for the fifth time in 14 years (with two wins, two losses under his belt). Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, who once served as Prodi's No. 2, is expected to lead the center-left...
...Still, the looming Berlusconi-Veltroni showdown does have the virtue of presenting a stark contrast between two very different politicians. The 71-year-old center-right leader hails from the industrial north, having made his mark as a real estate mogul and media entrepreneur, and becoming Italy's richest man. Berlusconi came into politics in 1994 billed as the ultimate outsider, scoffing at Rome's stuffy establishment and passing his downtime singing Neapolitan love ballads and frequenting his palatial villa in Sardinia's Porto Cervo. His refusal to resolve a gargantuan conflict of interest, as owner of Italy's three...
...center-left is scrambling to adjust. The largest party in the outgoing coalition, the Democrats, headed by Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, is trying to lure votes by proposing an electoral system that, like Germany's, would limit the influence of tiny parties. But such parties are legion in Italy, and the scheme frightens many of them. Ex Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema has declared that if Parliament can't pass an electoral reform law, the issue should be put to the people in a national referendum...
Most expect that the next showdown at the polls will feature Berlusconi and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, who was Prodi's No. 2 back in 1996-98 administration but is no longer close in the same camp. There are reports that Prodi will team up with small parties from the far left to try to stave off Veltroni's rise, which would no doubt bring on more nasty infighting. Many believe that a caretaker government made up of moderates from both center-left and center-right is necessary to bring about the reform necessary to bring more stability...
...long tapped to take over the center-left from Prodi is Rome mayor Walter Veltroni. He talks the lofty rhetoric associated with American-style democracy - of change and courage - and cites Robert Kennedy and Barack Obama. But it is telling that Veltroni did not challenge the older Prodi for the right to lead the charge against Berlusconi in 2006, though he was far more popular. Instead, he waited his turn. Now that his moment is arriving, Veltroni should resist the temptation to cut deals with the leaders of small parties - the Mastellas of the left, right and center...