KENYA: A pair of gleaming helicopters swooped onto a football pitch in western Kenya. The crowd cleared as the doors swung open and out hopped Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, buzzing with vigour and charm.
He cut through the throng of outstretched hands with confident ease - a hearty handshake here, a joke there. And up on stage, his speech hit all the right buttons: new, younger leaders; no more corruption; and jobs, jobs, jobs.
Kenya's biggest election in a generation takes place a week from today and Mr Kenyatta - whose first name means "freedom" - looks tailor-made for the job. His father is Mr Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's independence hero and first president. He comes from the Kikuyu, the largest tribe. At 42, he is young . And apparently he can run a business honestly.
Why, then, does his political star appear cursed? According to the latest opinion poll, Mr Mwai Kibaki of the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) - which is spearheading the newly galvanised opposition - commands 68 per cent of the vote. In stark contrast, Mr Kenyatta has just 21 per cent.
The poison touch comes from his powerful sponsor, outgoing President Daniel arap Moi. After 24 years of Moi rule, Kenya is crumbling. The economy is sliding, HIV/AIDS is rampant and the nation has a nasty reputation for corruption. Now Kenyans want Mr Moi to go - and to take his chosen successor with him.
Uhuru, as he is popularly known, is fighting back. For the past month he has engaged in a frantic election whirl from which President Moi has been conspicuously absent. The message is clear - he is his own man.
"I've insisted on doing my own business. That's the only way people can know who you are," he said yesterday, before leaving for another day's campaigning.
Whatever his popularity, Mr Kenyatta has injected a gale of fresh air into Kenya's stuffy world of old-man politics. He is friendly and pomp-free.
Having studied in Britain and Boston, his English is peppered with slang - he says he used to "cruise" the streets of London, selling flowers and beans, in his early days of business.
Yesterday morning he sat on the back porch of a country mansion owned by his running mate, Vice-President Mr Musalia Mudavadi, chain-smoking a packet of Embassy cigarettes. The polls were "rubbish", he said.
"In the beginning, everyone was saying 'rainbow, rainbow, rainbow'. But now that euphoria has died off. People are asking a lot of questions. I'm quite bullish, definitely." If elected, he promises to purge government of the "old Kanu" (Kenya African National Union) and bring in a new team of dynamic young professionals. But many Kenyans find it hard to believe the old bird can change its feathers so quickly.
"Uhuru might be okay," said Mr James Njenga, a Nairobi mechanic. "But after 40 years, we cannot trust Kanu with anything."
Mr Kenyatta's rallies this week in western province were mostly held in small, rural centres. This is opposition territory, and the last time he came angry youths in the large towns pelted his motorcade with stones. And despite his protestations, Mr Kenyatta has not managed a complete break with the past. His supporters include Mr Nicholas Biwott, a powerful Moi confidante and much-feared Svengali figure in Kenyan politics, and Mr Julius Sunkuli, a minister who stands accused of raping a teenage girl.
His corruption credentials have been questioned. In recent weeks the national treasury hastily paid 4.5 billion shillings (€58.5 million) for public works contracts, some of which are unfinished or may never have existed. Some suggest the money is being channelled into the Uhuru campaign.
Whether true or not, there is certainly small-scale bribery. On Wednesday, a large crowd waited all day for Mr Kenyatta to visit the remote village of Sirisia. By darkness his helicopter had failed to appear but several supporters - some of whom had been bussed in from neighbouring towns - said they still expected to be paid the 200 shillings (€2.60) they had been promised for attending.
Claims of stolen public funds are "complete rubbish", said Mr Kenyatta. As for the campaign payments: "I'm a pragmatist. I know that these things happen but the challenge is poverty, not politics." For Mr Kenyatta, the race is on to prove that he would be no Moi puppet if elected.