I've said it since early in Correa's campaign, and I'll say it again: that guy is a really special politician. He's his country's Bismark, but he's done it all democratically. I've been living down here 9 months per year for the last 7 years and it's been an interesting time.

Check out his Enlace Ciudadanos on their youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/PresidenciaEc and you'll see how he goes way beyond the stump speech. He's spending 2 or 3 hours every week personally articulating the government's policy at the town-hall level.

Yeah, like every politician everywhere who wants to consolidate support, he uses the US as a punching bag. And the one genuinely messed-up thing he's done are his media laws, which make it hard for any large independent media companies to flourish. But he's no Hugo Chavez. He's too smart, and too good of a politician, to need to be.