The Lioness moves the chips
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta switched from summer mode to autumn-winter look: he abandoned Steve Jobs-style t-shirts and started wearing shirts. First linen, then cotton but all motivated by the change to the presidential mode, using sack, something unusual in the head of the Buenos Aires Government.
This change of look happened in intense days of the presidential candidate: he had to talk at length with Fernán Quirós before blessing the Buenos Aires candidacy of Jorge Macri and restraining Elisa Carrió for lowering the doctor who was supported by the leader of the Civic Coalition.
But the most intense of HRL is, at this time, to crown the support of María Eugenia Vidal to her race for the Presidency. The former governor stepped down from her own candidacy for the biggest fight, for which she had received encouragement from Mauricio Macri. Now, María Eugenia meditates with her closest collaborators, to provide public support for the presidential candidacy of Rodríguez Larreta.
In that internal discussion there are four players: the former governor, Cristian Ritondo, the Buenos Aires deputy Alex Campbell and Carlos Federico Salvai, the former chief of staff of Vidal during the Buenos Aires governorship. Vidal tried to convince his former provincial security minister to join Larreta's campaign: but Ritondo will move to Patricia Bullrich's camp, based on the fact that its territorial leaders mostly support playing with "La Piba".
The other strong definition that awaits Vidal is the requirement of the Larretista ranks on who is his right hand in politics: the most influential men on Larreta want Federico Salvai to become Horacio's new campaign manager.
But they must calm the anxieties because the lawyer and journalist from Salta is in the western United States and returns to the country over the weekend. Thus, it is expected that on Monday, Larreta and Salvai will sit down to talk. And also with Vidal. Hours of extreme tension...
María Eugenia Vidal and her right hand Federico Salvai. Clarín Archive
Falcons
Where there is also concern is in bullrichism. Among all the definitions that are expected before the closing of lists on June 24, there is one that reveals Patricia Bullrich's troop: who will be her running mate. And for that, today three radical leaders qualify: Formosa Senator Luis Naidenoff, Mendoza Governor Rodolfo Suarez, and the head of the Buenos Aires UCR Maximiliano Abad.
Naidenoff sounds there because of his ancestry among radical senators; Suárez from Mendoza because it contains the "Malbec Group" as those who orbit near Alfredo Cornejo are called, who will finally go for another term in the province of Cuyana. And Abad grows in that bid because he has 30 radical mayors under his orbit. Close to the president of the Buenos Aires radicalism, they say that today he is only working so that there is a candidate for unity governor to defeat Axel Kicillof in the province. In all these definitions, Ernesto Sanz, who returned to politics today, plays a crucial role. We'll see, then we'll know...
Luis Naidenoff, Alfredo Cornejo and Maximiliano Abad, in La Plata.
Blue Peronism
Meanwhile, the ruling party awaits two events: to see if Sergio Tomás Massa gets some support – constant and resounding – on his trip to China. And how Wado de Pedro is doing in his incursions through the suburbs, hand in hand with Martín Insaurralde and his network of mayors.
The Peronist equation does not come out of the four leaders that Cristina Kirchner showed publicly in the Plaza de Mayo: Massa, Wado, her son Máximo and Axel Kicillof, who already breathes a sigh of relief knowing that his political boss supports him fighting for re-election as governor.
May 25. Cristina Kirchner in the act 20 years after the death of Nestor Kirchner. Photo Maxi Failla
Wado travels to Chaco knowing that he has the support of the league of governors of the North (Kicillof does not obtain support from the other Peronist leaders for a presidential race). And that CFK wants a governor to complete the presidential formula K: Claudia Abdala, wife of Santiago President Gerardo Zamora, continues to qualify for that place. Some in the vicinity of De Pedro, do not see bad that it is Gerardo Z. himself who accompanies the young camporista in the national election.
And Massa deals with the problem of inflation (the next one, May, will be very high) and with the weak results of the passage through Beijing and Shanghai: today he only guarantees the Frente de Todos his political expertise that shows him as the most skilled for a national debate against Larreta or Bullrich, and against Javier Milei. And that of a Peronist with a broader spectrum for an eventual runoff.
Daniel Osvaldo Scioli could also take shape there. But the "Pichichi" is already observed by Christianity for its difficulties in assembling a national network to reach the PASO: "Daniel is going to end up wrapped here and with an expectable place on the list of national deputies, forget it," says a Christian leader who awaits the return of Maximo Kirchner from China, for the assembly of the Buenos Aires lists. Another headache for Alberto Ángel Fernández?
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