Why López Murphy runs

Citizens protested in the streets when he proposed slashing the budget and tinkering with social security, prompting him to resign. Now, with Argentina in even worse shape, a defiant López Murphy is back -- running for president. "I told the truth, and the public wasn't ready to acknowledge it," says the neoliberal economist, who is campaigning on a platform of strict austerity. "Now they know that not reacting with the right policies came at the expense of our well-being."

Argentina certainly needs an effective recovery plan. The country defaulted on $132 billion in debt in December 2001, broke the peso's one-for-one peg to the U.S. dollar in early 2002 and later froze bank deposits. For a time, presidents came and went with the frequency of weekend tourists. "We have to build a government of law," says López Murphy, 51. "We breached a lot of contracts."

He faces long odds. Though he gained ground in a recent poll, he remains in last place with 7 to 8 percent, behind two ex-presidents, a governor and a congresswoman. On the bright side, a candidate must win 45 percent of the April 27 vote to avoid a runoff, and none currently polls higher than 20 percent. "It's impossible for a candidate to say, 'I have no chance' or 'I am running for the pleasure of it,'" says López Murphy. "I'll try to win."