More Ahmadinejad Ahead

This will please Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Mohammed Khatami, a liberal former president of Iran, will exit the presidential race to bolster the chances of Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister and reformist candidate. The BBC reports, however, that Khatami’s exit boosts Ahmadinejad’s reelection campaign. Khatami served two terms before the hard-line Ahmadinejad came to power but was unable to push a reformist agenda through the country’s clerics. His entrance into the presidential race changed its tone, perhaps forcing Ahmadinejad, battered by a sinking economy, to adopt a warmer attitude toward the West and the Obama administration, but Mousavi’s decision to run raised fears that he and Khatami would splinter the liberal vote.