Government May Shut Down Amid Standoff on Pork-Filled Spending Bill

Ex-guerrilla vies for Brazil's presidency
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (CNN) -- Brazil's General Election Sunday spans across all levels of government, from the presidency to local offices. But the spotlight will be on the presidential race, with a former Marxist guerrilla positioned to become Brazil's first female president. Dilma Rousseff is the hand-picked successor of President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who has an 80 percent Approval Rating. The outgoing president has steered Brazil into a major Global Economy, and his choice for the...

Brazil eyes first woman president in 'life after Lula'
If Brazil's 136 million voters pick Rousseff, as polls suggest, the former Marxist guerrilla turned Civil Servant and minister in Lula's government would lead the nation that has become a rising star among developing economies -- an industrial and raw materials powerhouse with an increasingly influential role on the world stage. Lula's chosen Candidate, a 62-year-old Cancer survivor nicknamed the "Iron Lady" for her steamroller-like determination and no-nonsense demeanor, is close to netting...

New polls show Brazil election may go to runoff
Brazilian ruling party Candidate Dilma Rousseff's lead narrowed in two polls released on Saturday on the eve of the Presidential Election, raising the prospect she may be forced into a Runoff against her main rival. Rousseff, former Chief of Staff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, fell 4 percentage points to 51 percent of the valid votes, according to a survey by the Ibope polling firm released hours before Voting begins on Sunday. Another survey by pollsters Datafolha showed her support...

Dilma Rousseff poised to become Brazil's first female president
© Natacha Pisarenko/AP A poster of Brazilian leader Luiz Incio Lula da Silva with Presidential Candidate Dilma Rousseff in a Rio de Janeiro Favela. Searchlights illuminated the night sky above the RecNov television centre in western Rio and rain poured down on to the sprawling factory of tear-jerking Brazilian soap operas. Inside Studio J a 62-year-old woman, clad in white, stared into the camera and began her pitch. "I represent a project to transform Brazil," she told the millions of...

Rousseff ends Brazil campaign in Lula heartland
By Hugo Bachega Sao BERNARDO DO CAMPO | Sat Oct 2, 2010 2:10pm EDT Sao BERNARDO DO CAMPO (Reuters) - Brazil's ruling party Candidate Dilma Rousseff ended her Presidential Campaign on Saturday with a heavily symbolic rally in the industrial base that launched the presidency of her mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Rousseff has a strong chance of becoming the first woman elected president of the Latin American giant when Brazilians vote on Sunday, largely thanks to Lula's energetic support and...

Lula's pick favored as Brazil votes for president
Sao Paulo | Sun Oct 3, 2010 1:13am EDT Sao Paulo (Reuters) - Brazilian ruling Party Candidate Dilma Rousseff's lead narrowed in two polls released on Saturday on the eve of the Presidential Election, raising the prospect she may be forced into a Runoff against her main rival. Rousseff, former Chief of Staff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, fell 4 percentage points to 51 percent of the valid votes, according to a survey by the Ibope polling firm released hours before Voting begins on...

Brazil to elect new leader after 8 years under Silva; Rousseff could be first woman president
Sao Paulo — Brazilians vote Sunday in national Elections that could see front-running Candidate Dilma Rousseff become the country's first female president, succeeding her popular ally and mentor. Rousseff, a 62-year-old former guerrilla, represents the ruling Workers Party and is the hand-chosen successor of outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who led Brazil to unparalleled Economic Growth and increasing political clout on the global stage. The latest polls show her with a lead...

Becoming Lula - By Anna Petherick
BRASILIA, Brazil The only question that seems to be left hanging in Brazil's Presidential race is the date of Dilma Rousseff's victory party: Oct. 3 or Oct. 31? The polls have consistently reported that Rousseff, President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva's preferred successor, is hovering around the threshold that she needs to secure a victory Sunday, Oct. 3, in the first round of the country's Presidential Election. The most recent numbers -- published on Sept. 29 -- put her at 47 percent of...

HIDALGO: Brazil
As Brazilians head to the polls on Sunday, they may be forgiven for feeling complacent. After all, The Economy is growing, Poverty is falling, the historical gross income inequalities have been somewhat reduced, and Brazil is finally seen by many as a rising global economic power. It is not surprising, then, that Brazilians seem inclined to vote for continuity by electing Dilma Rousseff - President Lula da Silva's anointed successor - as president. Yet, if Brazil's economy is to live up to these...

Brazil's Complacency Problem
As Brazilians head to the polls on Sunday, they may be forgiven for feeling complacent. After all, The Economy is growing, Poverty is falling, the historical gross income inequalities have been somewhat reduced, and Brazil is finally seen by many as a rising global economic power. It is not surprising, then, that Brazilians seem inclined to vote for continuity by electing Dilma Rousseff - President Lula da Silva's anointed successor - as president.

Star Stella on brink of historic Brazil win
Latin America is no stranger to female leaders, but not many can match the radical political trajectory of Dilma Rousseff, the 62-year-old one-time Marxist guerrilla leader who stands to become Brazil's first female president. Woman on top: Dilma Rousseff on the Campaign Trail with president Luiz Incio 'Lula' da Silva Photographs: AFP/Getty Images/AP For Rousseff, a twice-divorced Economist, to become Brazil's president - either by winning outright in Elections today, or in a later...

Brazil eyes first woman president in 'life after Lula'
Latin America's biggest country was poised to pick Sunday its first woman president, Dilma Rousseff, to succeed wildly popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Polls show. If Brazil's 136 million voters pick Rousseff, as Polls suggest, the former Marxist guerrilla turned Civil Servant and minister in Lula's government would lead the nation that has become a rising star among developing economies -- an industrial and raw materials powerhouse with an increasingly influential role on the world...

Brazil to pick successor for popular president
Sao Paulo -   Brazilians vote Sunday in national Elections that could see front-running Candidate Dilma Rousseff become the country's first female president, succeeding her popular ally and mentor. Rousseff, a 62-year-old former guerrilla, represents the ruling Workers Party and is the hand-chosen successor of outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who led Brazil to unparalleled Economic Growth and increasing political clout on the global stage. The latest polls show her with...

Rousseff rallies voters in Lula stronghold
On the eve of Brazils presidential and general Elections on Sunday, Dilma Rousseff, Candidate of the ruling leftwing PT, could not have chosen a more symbolic location for her final campaign appearance: So Bernardo do Campo, the industrial suburb of So Paulo where her patron, President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, first grabbed the nations attention as a firebrand union leader. This is where it all started, an exhausted Ms Rousseff told a packed hall at the metalworkers union...

Brazil to pick successor for popular president
Marina Silva, right, Presidential Candidate for the Green Party, greets supporters during a campaign rally in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday Oct. 2, 2010. Brazil will hold general Elections Oct. 3. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Workers Party Presidential Candidate Dilma Rousseff waves to supporters during a campaign rally in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010. Brazil will hold general Elections on Oct. 3. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Jose Serra, top...

Women in Control - An FP Photo Essay
While it's true that more than 75 percent of parliaments worldwide are more than three-quarters male, in recent years some high-powered female heads of state have bucked the trend. If Dilma Rousseff is elected as Brazil's first female president on Sunday, she'll be joining a small, but elite, cohort. BY SUZANNE MERKELSON, Andrew Swift

Treason doth never prosper ...
As a horse race, the Presidential Election has no interest. Dilma Rousseff, Lulas protge, has been at around 50% in the polls for a month and will be the next President of Brazil. Its beginning to look as if she wont get an absolute majority and there will have to be a pro-forma run-off against the conservative Jos Serra. Marina Silva, Lulas former environment mimister who resigned in Protest at having been sidelined by the development lobby and is running on the the Green...

Dilma Rousseff poised to become Brazil's first female president
Searchlights illuminated the night sky above the RecNov television centre in western Rio and rain poured down on to the sprawling factory of tear-jerking Brazilian soap operas. Inside Studio J a 62-year-old woman, clad in white, stared into the camera and began her pitch. "I represent a project to transform Brazil ," she told the millions of Brazilian voters who had crowded around TV sets from inner-city Rio to remote Amazon towns. "Yes, it is possible for a woman to be the president of the...

Brazil's Presidential Election: The Fight for Lula's Legacy
President Lula da Silva may still be incredibly popular in Brazil but he is not allowed to run for a third term. The Candidates of the two big parties lack his charisma and may be given a run for their money by the Green Party's Marina Silva in Sunday's Election. The members of the Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club are not an easy audience for a former Political Activist and ecologist. Well-heeled couples, the majority of them elderly, sit on the veranda with its view out onto the Sugar Loaf and...

Leaving Valadares: A Dangerous Journey for Brazil's Illegal Migrants
In spite of the upswing in their country's fortunes under President Lula da Silva, many Brazilians continue to leave their home in search of a better life in the United States. Yet Mexico's Drug War represents a dangerous hurdle in the path of many illegal migrants. Juliard Aires Fernandes had been warned. His friends had told him he could easily die while attempting to cross the border between Mexico and the United States unaided. Acquaintances who had recently returned said it was no longer...

In Brazil, Lula's Heir Prepares for Power
Few Brazilians outside the political elite knew much about Dilma Rousseff before the Presidential Election Campaign got under way in July. As chief of staff to the massively popular President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Rousseff had been a powerful behind-the-scenes figure who had also served as Energy Minister. But she had never had to win the hearts and minds of voters by running for political office. That was before Lula tapped her to succeed him. In most countries, Rousseff...

Brazil: Great expectations
B razil is a happy country or so many believe. Indeed, the flair of the countrys football, the collective ecstasy of its carnivals, its multiracial inheritance and, of course, that skimpy swimwear are all part of Brazils immense soft power. Add in a fast-growing economy and Brazilians can according to Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, the countrys outgoing president lay claim to being the happiest and most creative people in the world. EDITORS CHOICE Gideon...

Former student radicals poised to lead Brazil
In the 1960s, Economics Student Dilma Rousseff joined her first Militant group opposing the Military Dictatorship in Brazil. In 1970, she was captured, tortured and tossed in Prison for nearly three years. Jose Serra also was active in Student politics, leading the left-leaning National Student Union and attracting the interest of the Military. Just before the 1964 Military Coup, he fled the country. Now, these former Militants — who entered mainstream politics decades ago — are...