To give himself a real shot at becoming Indonesia's next president, Rais needs to increase the disappointing 7.4% of the popular vote that his National Mandate Party won in the parliamentary elections last June.

CNN: Partners -- As In Sparring

Yet Mr. Najib remains more popular than his party for having at least tried to emphasize national unity over ethnic divides with his "One Malaysia" rhetoric.

WSJ: Philip Bowring: The Realignment of Malaysian Politics

Political analysts say the revelations could play in favor of Beppe Grillo, a popular former comedian who leads an antiestablishment party that rails against national elites.

WSJ: Italian Police Arrest Finmeccanica CEO

After all, while the Cantabria branch of the party launched the opposition movement, the national Partido Popular, which holds a parliamentary majority in Madrid, has come out in favor of fracking on a number of occasions.

FORBES: Why is Spain Pushing Back on Shale?

Although Aznar's allies and his wife claimed victory in municipal races in the capital, Madrid, on the national level the opposition Socialist Party were leading Aznar's ruling Popular Party.

CNN: Voters punish Aznar on Iraq

The result is a reminder that politics is still local - a popular local council and strong local party helped the Eastleigh Lib Dems to weather a national storm.

BBC: Relief, disbelief, despair and concern

While the ex-Senator has a loyal, grass roots following in Wisconsin, he is not the most popular potential candidate among his old colleagues on The Hill nor with the national financial apparatus of the Democratic Party.

FORBES: A Wisconsin Rumble: Feingold v. Ryan?

Well-regarded within the national Democratic Party but less well known in Los Angeles, Mr Becerra is actually the most popular candidate with Latino voters (with about 30% of their vote).

ECONOMIST: Politics amid the palms | The

Voting against the declaration were the regional members of parliament from the Spanish prime minister's conservative Popular Party and most of the regional members from the Socialist party, which is the main opposition party at the national level.

CNN: Catalan parliament declaration pushes self-determination