An other election, another change of government… The demise of 69 year old Berlusconi would appear to signal the end of an era. Hardly the old man of Italian politics, he has none the less promised to sail off to Tahiti if he lost.
Update: carlos blancos was right. Currently too close to call, but odds currently shifting towards Berlusconi – hold that ticket for Tahiti…For a PM who owns an extraordinary proportion of the Italian media, his few media bungles call into question the extent of it really is the media that calls the shots in any political contest:
After gradually edging closer to the opposition in the polls, the centre-right lost momentum. On March 12, Mr Berlusconi had a toxic television encounter with Lucia Annunziata, a leftwing interviewer, and stormed out of the studio in protest at her aggressive attitude.
Two days later, Mr Berlusconi was widely adjudged to have lost the first of two televised debates with Mr Prodi. The premier looked ill at ease, overran his allocated time for answering questions and frittered away his concluding remarks on a complaint about the debate’s format.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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