Oriental Rugs the O'Connell Notes

People in the SW-Asia Model - D

Khosro Daneshju, a member of the Coalition for Development announced that a consensus would be reached among the conservatives on Ahmadinejad. Reformists are meeting to Discuss Backing Rafsanjani.

Ran Rasanjani's "War Room"
"At front-runner Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidential campaign headquarters in Tehran, Siavash Daryabar shows off a vast wall chart of Iran's regions, with hundreds of circles each indicating an office supporting his candidate. Rafsanjani has plenty of backers, but in Iran's increasingly uninhibited political environment, there's also plenty of opposition.

For the last few weeks, Daryabar has been churning out rebuttals to opposition attacks on Rafsanjani for everything from using his influence to enrich himself to being photographed with inappropriately dressed women. "I have never seen such smears," says one campaign veteran. The balloting is set for June 17. " Rafsanjani "If he can't, none of the others can." says Tala, a 22-year-old actress