Brazil’s election: who’s your choice?

If the first round of television propaganda is any guide, Dilma Rousseff will romp home as the next president of Brazil on October 3.

Here are Dilma’s first two programmes, broadcast on Tuesday lunchtime and evening.

Her main challenger is José Serra. His evening programme is here. His lunchtime programme is flagged on his site but doesn’t play, so we’re including a link to a version apparently recorded by supporters watching it on television.

The difference between the campaigns is, as they say in Portuguese, screaming.

The professionalism and production quality of Dilma’s programmes speak for themselves. Serra’s look almost amateurish by comparison. This is the first thing voters will notice and it would be hard to overstate its importance.

Dilma’s message, equally, puts her streets ahead. The first programme is a gentle affair that presents Dilma the person to millions of voters who know very little about her. (It features her ex-husband and daughter, though omits mention of her recent lymphoma.)

The second is more dynamic and is presented as a double act between Dilma and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, current president and the man who picked her as his chief minister and chosen successor. After nearly eight years in power Lula is at the height of his popularity. There could be no more powerful endorsement.

Serra slips up all over the place. His first comment is to admit that Brazil has done well under Lula. Most of the rest of his time is dedicated to his achievements in public health. You would think he was running for health minister.

Brazil is doing well today largely because of reforms enacted by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula’s predecessor, under whom Serra served as minister of planning and health. Those reforms are unfinished and, between Serra and Dilma, the only one likely to resume them is Serra. You wouldn’t have a clue from his campaign.