When Spain's charismatic former prime minister Mr Felipe Gonzalez (56) stepped aside last year to make way for a new generation of socialists, his opponents on the right breathed a sigh of relief.
In spite of his defeat in the 1996 general elections, after 14 years in power, and dogged by allegations of corruption and dirty politics, Mr Gonzalez remained the country's most popular politician.
The conservative Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar (45), saw his opportunity to win friends and gain, if not the love of the people, at least their approval.
But now, 13 months later, with a healthy economic situation and a modest fall in the stubbornly high unemployment rate, and with the Socialist Party in disarray and still carrying its legacy of sleaze, opinion polls published last weekend show the Socialists running virtually neck and neck with the Popular Party and Mr Gonzalez still the favourite politician.
It seems that however hard he tries, the grey and stiff Mr Aznar fails to inspire the affection of the electorate.
Many of the Socialist Party's problems stem from the fact that the youthful politicians, including Mr Gonzalez himself, who replaced the Civil War veterans and hijacked the party in the early 1970s, are still only in their 50s.
In spite of protestations to the contrary, they have left little space for a new generation to take over. Mr Gonzalez was replaced as party leader by Mr Joaquin Almunia (50), a serious Basque lawyer and former minister.
Mr Almunia is very different from his predecessor: he is personable, friendly and undogmatic, but an uninspired orator. Many saw him as a weak candidate to lead the party to general elections - which must be held by March 2000 - and some even suggested that he was merely keeping the seat warm for Mr Gonzalez to make a comeback.
The decision to poll party members on their choice of prime ministerial candidate was Mr Almunia's way of consolidating his own position. But the ploy backfired when a surprise candidate, Mr Josep Borrell, stepped into the race and in spite of strong support for Mr Almunia by the Gonzalez camp defeated him by a surprising 10 percentage points.
Mr Borrell (51), also a former minister, is one of the few Catalans to have made a mark on the national political scene. Shrewd and intelligent, his populist style is also seen as appealing to the left wing of the party, while Mr Almunia is closer to Mr Gonzalez's middle-of-the-road socialism. It was agreed that Mr Almunia should remain in his post as general secretary while Mr Borrell would become prime ministerial candidate-in-waiting. This unsatisfactory state of affairs has now been in operation for more than two months. Already cracks are appearing in the party structure and there is the danger that the arrangement could crumble at any time.
Although Mr Almunia and Mr Borrell appear to get on well on a personal level, there is an obvious lack of co-operation in decision-making, and Mr Borrell has complained that he is informed of decisions only after they have been made.
In the weeks following Mr Borrell's victory, support for the Socialists surged ahead and polls published at the end of May put them more than two points ahead of the Popular Party. Last week's poll, however, showed that internal wrangling has eroded their support by over three percentage points, leaving them level with the PP.
Spain's Socialists look enviously at Tony Blair and New Labour, and, like many others, have been surprised at the friendly personal relations between Mr Blair and Mr Aznar. Perhaps to make up for lost time and repair fences, Mr Borrell flew to London yesterday for a belated meeting with the Prime Minister at No 10 Downing Street where he will hopefully pick up a few tips from a maestro.