Socialists put off launch of May campaign

More speculation was ignited on Wednesday about Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's political future after the Socialist Party's executive committee decided to postpone launching its national campaign for May's regional and local elections.

Party sources said that they want to avoid the May 22 elections from turning into a public campaign against Zapatero and want to focus on letting the regional leaders to be the protagonists in the race.

The official campaign launch was slated for April 3 at the Vistalegre bullring in Madrid, but party barons across the country got word on Tuesday night that the Socialists were reprogramming "the entire campaign." The event was planned about three months ago, independent from Zapatero's final decision on whether he would or would not actively participate in the campaign.

José Blanco, deputy party secretary general, waved off the importance of the cancellation, saying the decision was made for "strategic reasons."

"You don't reveal your strategies," Blanco told reporters in Congress. "If I were to explain it to you, then you would understand."

Tomás Gómez, the Madrid candidate for regional premier, also called the decision "strategic," and said that because the upcoming elections were regional and local, the issues should be debated among the candidates that are running.