GEORGIA:Before his helicopter touches down, Mikhail Saakashvili already has his hand on the door handle. A bodyguard leans forward but can't restrain him long; within seconds, Misha, as Georgia's former president and now campaigning candidate is informally known, has jumped out, ducked into a black SUV, and is barrelling at top speed through the countryside.
In Telavi, the capital of Georgia's wine region, he unfolds his broad 6ft-3in frame from the car and grabs a microphone.
"I live for you," he booms to a crowd in the street. "You can't imagine what it means when you smile for me."
Then he's off to a local university; by the end of the afternoon he has hit a church, a theatre, a vineyard and a farmhouse, chased after by out-of-breath assistants, bodyguards and TV crews.
Saakashvili (40) has spent every day of the past month like this, on an intensive, often frantic, 41-day presidential campaign that culminates when voters go to the polls tomorrow. "I love campaigns," he says. But this campaign, meant to be his last, wasn't supposed to happen this way.
His term as president was due to last through 2008. But he cut it short in November to defuse a crisis that began when he sent out baton-swinging riot police after five days of peaceful anti-government demonstrations, accusing the protesters of being stooges of Russia.
Police also raided and violently shut down a popular opposition TV station.
The tactics angered many Georgians and shocked allies of this former Soviet republic.
Western governments and human rights organisations condemned the police attacks, saying Saakashvili had taken a troubling authoritarian turn, and some analysts said the country could fall into military rule or civil war.
But the next day Saakashvili had a surprise response: he moved the presidential election ahead to January 5th, which required him to step down and run again.
Georgians, he declared, would show with their ballots whether they supported him.
A former member of parliament and justice minister, Saakashvili came to power in 2004 by leading the bloodless Rose Revolution, which swept out the corrupt government of President Eduard Shevardnadze.
Shortly afterwards, he was elected with 97 per cent of the vote, in an election that monitors ruled essentially clean despite his enormous tally.
In Washington, the charismatic, American-educated leader became a golden boy.
A Columbia- and George Washington University-educated lawyer, he set about trying to reform a collapsing bureaucracy at the same breakneck speed he seems to use in everything.
He encouraged foreign investment, repaired roads, replaced a corrupt police force and brought in a reliable gas and electricity service.
He pushed for membership of the European Union and Nato, reined in a rebellious autonomous region and moved to win back two breakaway regions along the Russian border. He became known for scheduling state business after midnight, treating visitors to impromptu rides on Ferris wheels and showing up in unexpected places, such as a conflict zone where he confronted Russian soldiers (an event captured on film and replayed repeatedly on television).
But critics accused him of creeping authoritarianism and infringements of free speech and the rule of law. He promoted big business and international investment at the expense of ordinary people, they said, and some charged that his bluster was unnecessarily escalating tensions with Russia over trade, energy and border disputes.
Saakashvili dismissed the critics as Soviet sympathisers and during the protest crisis accused opposition leaders of being part of a pro-Russian intended coup.
Now, however, the special forces are nowhere in sight and Saakashvili is presenting himself as a compromiser. He has pledged to bring new figures into his cabinet and to focus on poverty and unemployment.
In one TV ad, as he listens to a war refugee describe his hard life, a tear rolls down his cheek - which he insists was real.
George Arveladze, one of several state ministers who have temporarily left their posts to work on Saakashvili's campaign, said the only difference is he now has more time for constituents. "Misha is the same old Misha as he used to be," he said. "He's doing what he loves to do the most - being with people."
If Saakashvili does not win more than 50 per cent tomorrow there will be a runoff. Whether Georgians believe in his sincerity may not be the key for Saakashvili to win. Many who criticise him say they fear the other candidates could be worse.
These include a legislator/wine entrepreneur, supported by nine opposition parties, who has pledged to step down in favour of a parliamentary republic; a former Enron consultant who has cited his good looks among his qualifications; and a wealthy businessman with a handlebar moustache who, along with his campaign manager, was caught last week on sting videos offering a state official $100 million to encourage post-election protests. - ( LA Times-Washington Post service )