For the first debate, Patricia Bullrich He chose white clothes. For the second, red clothes. For the first it was measured, for the second it was more aggressive. The candidate for president of Together for Change decided to recalculate her strategy based on the feedback she had from the first presidential debate in Santiago del Estero.
The former Minister of Security arrived at the first debate with a slogan, spread among her collaborators: to attack without concessions the two candidates, that of Unión por la Patria and that of La Libertad Avanza, who months ago were chosen as opponents in a Polarization which, as they recognize in the JxC camp itself, has not yet managed to break the presidential candidate.
Bullrich was hesitant in the economic segment, he hesitated in the questions to the rest of the candidates and was not quick in responding. That is, she missed an opportunity to take the initiative. “Without inflation you can’t buy a house,” was one of her rants on the Economy issue, by far the weakest of the former minister.
Bullrich had been preparing for the debate in Santiago del Estero for weeks: he rented a studio to rehearse and had time to study proposals. But Massa’s remarkable stage management, with years of public experience and media fanaticism, and Javier Milei’s unflappable style overshadowed his performance.
In the first debate, the former president of the PRO did not even take advantage of the scandal around Martín Insaurralde: she only mentioned it in passing when she could have gloated about that situation that ended with the resignation of the Buenos Aires chief of staff. She sighed Nestor Grindettithe candidate for governor of Bullrich, who in recent years has built an excellent relationship with the former Buenos Aires official.
Interval
Between debates, Bullrich went to the IDEA colloquium in Mar del Plata, where she felt very comfortable and improvised a speech that pleased the audience, which had certain doubts after the first debate. She needed to deliver that coup d’état in the run-up to the second debate and ahead of the last two weeks of the campaign. The absence of Massa and the counter-summit organized by Milei ten minutes from the Sheraton hotel – where the business colloquium was held – while the presidential candidate of Together for Change was speaking, they finished confirming the preference of a good part of the red circle for the former minister.
In the run-up to the second debate, leaders close to Bullrich admitted that he had to deliver a coup facing the last two weeks of the campaign. “Lost for lost, we have to go for everything,” they explained near the candidate in the previous hours. Her own surveys place her in third place but, according to her surroundings, she is growing and very close to Massa.
Other surveys They show it three points from Massa already six from Milei. Between Friday and Sunday, the former minister dedicated all her time to preparing her presentation with her star consultant Diego “Derek” Hampton, known for his long silences in meetings and his stern manner. At the UBA Law Faculty, the candidate fired a battery of allusions to Kirchnerist “corruption” and the Insaurralde yacht, and direct attacks on Milei, something she had not done before.
What’s more: the discomfort in his right eye, which was seen in the same debate when he rubbed it for a few seconds, he managed to capitalize on by comparing it with the images of Rocky Balboa after one of her boxing fights, as if she had won. Her campaign team breathed a sigh of relief because they often repeat that, when something goes wrong for the candidate, she challenges everyone, and when she does well, she celebrates her success with little humility. Among the self-evaluations she made of the second debate was the phrase: “I was very good.”
Patricia “Rocky” Bullrich won the debate 💪🥊#DuckPresident pic.twitter.com/gSEmIQB4pS
— Mario Raúl Negri (@marioraulnegri) October 9, 2023
The eye discomfort was explained with a conjunctivitis and the previous Sunday he had a flu condition that did not convince anyone. There are those who think that the extensive campaign is already taking its toll or has begun to somatize the fear of defeat.
What’s coming
Now remains the final stretch of the campaign, two intense weeks of tours and reinforcement of presence in the most important districts of the Conurbano and the interior of the country. Added to all this is the request to Mauricio Macri to stop praising Milei. The ambiguous attitude that the former president took towards the libertarian and Bullrich became harmful to the space itself, which forced him to participate in a group photo before the second debate to overact unit.
The former president almost did not participate in the campaign, but reappeared in the last section, delivering Bullrich ballots in Vicente López and San Isidro. Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, He gained prominence this weekend with the announcement that he will be Chief of Staff if a victory is achieved. AND Diego Santilli He got on the “Patoneta” in some sections, to reinforce the Buenos Aires campaign. But they are just some cosmetic appearances. During the pilgrimage to Luján, different collaborators carried the candidate’s ballot to ask the Virgin to make her president. Of political construction, very little.
Image gallery
