Menem... Again?(Carlos Menem to run for president again, Argentina)(Brief Article)

When Argentina's caretaker President Eduardo Duhalde declared last week that next year's election would be held in March, seven months earlier than originally planned, a surprising name popped up as a possible replacement: Carlos Menem, the country's 72-year-old former president. Despite the fact that most Argentines hold Menem responsible for the government corruption and overspending that triggered the country's current economic woes, many loyal Peronists hark back to the mid-1990s, when Argentina was still prospering under his leadership. It doesn't seem to bother anyone that Menem spent five months last year under house arrest on illegal arms-sales charges, either. (The allegations were dropped in November.) Even the country's laws have so far done little to quell the rising Menem tide. The Constitution prohibits former presidents from seeking another term in office until they've been away from the job for four years, and Menem's four-year gap won't be officially complete until December 2003. ...