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A former shoeshine boy who <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e1">rose</EVENT> from abject poverty, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 61, has <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e2">given</EVENT> up his once fiery leftist rhetoric but not his image as a champion of the underdog.

The bearded leader will <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e3">take</EVENT> office on <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2007-01-01" tid="t1">Monday</TIMEX3> after his overwhelming <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e4">reelection</EVENT> with more than 60 percent of the <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e5">vote</EVENT> on <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2007-10-29" tid="t2">October 29</TIMEX3>, thanks largely to <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e6">support</EVENT> from the millions of Brazilians who <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e7">survive</EVENT> on less than two dollars a day.

His electoral <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e8">victory</EVENT> in the <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e9">run-off</EVENT> <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e10">marked</EVENT> a clear <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e11">rebound</EVENT> since claims of campaign dirty tricks had <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e12">thwarted</EVENT> his <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e13">bid</EVENT> to <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e14">win</EVENT> reelection in the first round of <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e16">voting</EVENT> on <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2006-10-01" tid="t3">October 1</TIMEX3>, when he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e17">fell</EVENT> 1.4 percentage points short of the simple majority needed for outright victory.

At campaign rallies, he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e19">showed</EVENT> great pride in his humble background, <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e20">reminding</EVENT> <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e21">cheering</EVENT> crowds that unlike his opponent, a trained doctor, he has no university degree.

<EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e23">Born</EVENT> on <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="1945-10-06" tid="t4">October 6, 1945</TIMEX3>, in the dirt-poor northeast of Brazil, Lula <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e24">learned</EVENT> to <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e25">read</EVENT> when he was <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2006-12-30" tid="t5">10</TIMEX3>.

As a child, he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e26">worked</EVENT> as a shoeshine boy and a peanut vendor before <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e27">getting</EVENT> a job as a metal worker at the age of 14. He <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e28">lost</EVENT> a finger in a work <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e29">accident</EVENT> in <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="196" tid="t6">the 1960s</TIMEX3>.

A trade unionist and strike leader, he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e31">came</EVENT> to <EVENT class="STATE" eid="e32">symbolize</EVENT> opposition to the military dictatorship in <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="197" tid="t7">the 1970s</TIMEX3> and early <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="198" tid="t8">1980s</TIMEX3>. He <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e33">founded</EVENT> the leftist Workers Party (PT) in <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="1980-02" tid="t9">February 1980</TIMEX3>.

In <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="1986" tid="t10">1986</TIMEX3>, he was <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e34">elected</EVENT> to Congress, and <TIMEX3 type="DURATION" value="P3Y" tid="t11">three years</TIMEX3> later he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e35">launched</EVENT> his first <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e36">bid</EVENT> for <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2006-12-30" tid="t12">the presidency</TIMEX3>. He <EVENT class="I_ACTION" eid="e38">tried</EVENT> again in <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="1994" tid="t13">1994</TIMEX3> and <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="1998" tid="t14">1998</TIMEX3> before <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e39">winning</EVENT> by a <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e40">landslide</EVENT> in <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2002" tid="t15">2002</TIMEX3>.

His <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e41">victory</EVENT> was in part attributed to the fact that he dramatically <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e43">toned</EVENT> down his once fiery leftist <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e44">speech</EVENT> and <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e45">moved</EVENT> the PT closer to the political center.

"I don't <EVENT class="I_STATE" eid="e46">know</EVENT> how many elections I've <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e48">lost</EVENT> to <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e49">get</EVENT> to where I am now," Lula <EVENT class="REPORTING" eid="e50">said</EVENT> in an October <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e51">interview</EVENT>. "But I do <EVENT class="I_STATE" eid="e52">know</EVENT> how many insults and prejudices I've had to <EVENT class="I_ACTION" eid="e53">overcome</EVENT> to <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e54">get</EVENT> there.

"That's why my only objective <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="PRESENT_REF" tid="t16">now</TIMEX3> is to <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e55">show</EVENT> that I'm more competent than many of the people who've been <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e56">runnning</EVENT> this country."

He <EVENT class="I_ACTION" eid="e57">insists</EVENT> Brazil has <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e58">made</EVENT> great <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e59">strides</EVENT> forward since he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e60">took</EVENT> office, <EVENT class="REPORTING" eid="e61">saying</EVENT> poverty has <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e62">gone</EVENT> down 19 percent since he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e63">took</EVENT> office.

His government <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e64">pumped</EVENT> billions of dollars into social projects, including an ambitious program that <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e65">subsidizes</EVENT> 11 million impoverished families, and which has <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e66">gained</EVENT> widespread popularity.

His electoral triumph <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2002" tid="t18">four years ago</TIMEX3> <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e67">rocked</EVENT> financial markets that <EVENT class="I_STATE" eid="e68">feared</EVENT> he would <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e69">lead</EVENT> the country to economic ruin. Lula eventually <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e71">gained</EVENT> the markets' trust, as he <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e72">kept</EVENT> the economy stable and <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e73">achieved</EVENT> the budget surplus <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e74">required</EVENT> by agreements with the International Monetary Fund.

"In <TIMEX3 type="DURATION" value="P4Y" tid="t19">four years</TIMEX3>, I have <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e76">learned</EVENT> a lot," he <EVENT class="REPORTING" eid="e77">says</EVENT>.

His popularity <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e78">plummeted</EVENT> in <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="2005" tid="t20">2005</TIMEX3> amid a wave of corruption scandals involving members of his cabinet and his party. He quickly <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e81">bounced</EVENT> back, but a new <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e82">scandal</EVENT> that <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e83">erupted</EVENT> <TIMEX3 type="DURATION" value="P2W" tid="t21">two weeks</TIMEX3> before the first round of <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e84">voting</EVENT> again <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e85">eroded</EVENT> his support, which has <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e86">surged</EVENT> once more in <TIMEX3 type="DURATION" value="PXW" tid="t22">recent weeks</TIMEX3>.

Lula <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e87">fired</EVENT> top government and party officials, and <EVENT class="I_ACTION" eid="e88">insists</EVENT> he <EVENT class="STATE" eid="e89">had</EVENT> no prior knowledge of the wrongdoing.

He has <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e90">distanced</EVENT> himself from the brand of radicalism <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e91">advocated</EVENT> by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who in his recent address to the UN General Assembly <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e92">called</EVENT> US President George W. Bush "the devil."

An avowed admirer of the Cuban revolution, he nonetheless recently <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e94">criticized</EVENT> Cuba's ailing President Fidel Castro.

"I only <EVENT class="I_STATE" eid="e96">regret</EVENT> that Fidel Castro did not <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e97">carry</EVENT> out a <EVENT class="STATE" eid="e98">process</EVENT> of political opening," he recently <EVENT class="REPORTING" eid="e100">told</EVENT> the Folha de Sao Paulo <TIMEX3 type="DATE" value="P1D" tid="t26">daily</TIMEX3>.

"I <EVENT class="I_STATE" eid="e101">think</EVENT> that our (Cuban) comrades <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e102">missed</EVENT> their chance to <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e103">move</EVENT> closer to democracy," he <EVENT class="REPORTING" eid="e104">said</EVENT>.

Lula is <EVENT class="OCCURRENCE" eid="e105">married</EVENT> and <EVENT class="STATE" eid="e106">has</EVENT> three children.