Class Is Pivotal In Iran Runoff

"This is unprecedented," said Hamid Bagheri, 23, who sells trinkets at an open-air kiosk in Bagherabad. "Nobody has helped us like that before."

Ahmadinejad promises to do the same on a national scale as president, subsidizing food and housing for the poor. His views are cryptic on relaxing social codes. The mayor, alone in the original field of presidential candidates, is cool toward the idea of re-establishing relations with the United States.

Rafsanjani, by contrast, has made the promise of negotiations with Washington a campaign centerpiece. He also promotes liberalizing Iran's government-dominated economy and keeping the government out of private lives, a key demand of many young Iranians, now a sizable majority in a nation where the voting age is 15.

Most important, supporters say, Rafsanjani has the stature to stand up to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who as supreme leader has ultimate authority in Iran and often sides with those who support the mayor. Atrianfar said Rafsanjani and Khamenei share a strategic interest in seeing Iran remain an Islamic republic but differ on the means. Khamenei is leery of establishing civil institutions and political parties, he said.

Diplomats and analysts said the election could also affect delicate negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, which the Bush administration and other governments fear could be used to develop weapons.

But after figuring significantly in the first round of campaigning, foreign affairs have been overtaken by economic concerns. And Rafsanjani's campaign style -- a tidal wave of posters, banners and bumper stickers, many featuring his name in English -- threatens to backfire by suggesting the candidate has money to burn.

"Who pays for this?" asked Mohammad Asadi, a retired civil servant. "If all this money he's spent is his money, it's a waste."

More controversial still are the text messages caroming among the relatively few who can afford the roughly $800 it costs for a cell phone account in Iran. Referring to Ahmadinejad as a "monkey" and "Afghanistan's Miss Universe," the mass messages brought a warning from the prosecutor of Iran's Revolutionary Court. They also illustrate class undercurrents running through both campaigns.

Wearing blue-tinted wraparound glasses with matching shirt and slacks, Vahid Tahmasbi stood out in an Ahmadinejad campaign office Tuesday. Explaining that he was a basij member and a flight attendant, he said he had volunteered to leaflet for the mayor.

Tahmasbi even persuaded several friends to volunteer. But when they showed up in fashionable clothes, the campaign basij members turned them away, Tahmasbi said. "They told them, 'You don't fit this place.' "