We've got a scoop! Television Espanola is reporting that they have learned that Mariano Rajoy will be Jose Maria Aznar's successor as the conservative People's Party candidate for Prime Minister of Spain. The official announcement will be Monday.

So we're going to have lots of electoral fun over the next few months here, with the Madrid regional Parliament elections on Oct. 26, the Catalan regional elections sometime in early November, the general elections in March 2004, and the Andalusian regionals sometime around then, possibly on the same day. Then we'll have the European Parliament elections sometime in later spring 2004. This is going to be great.

Predictions already: PP wins the Madrid region, Maragall and his Commie / Republican Left supporters win in Catalonia, ending 23 years of Convergence and Union government, the PP takes an absolute majority in the generals, the Andalucist Party will decide the Andalusian elections because there'll be a near-tie between the PP and the Leftist coalition, and nobody's going to vote in the Europeans since nobody gives a rat's patoot.