Although the political pageantry to choose the next Liberal Democratic Party president will not officially begin until September, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe's recent time in the crisis spotlight is giving him a huge lead over other possible candidates to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Political observers agree the North Korean missile launches earlier this month were a big plus for the government's chief spokesman while Koizumi was on a trip to the Middle East and to the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, until last weekend.
"It is true that we don't know what is going to happen in the political world. But so far, Mr. Abe has been seen as the single most likely successor," said Fukashi Horie, a former political science professor at Keio University and president of Shobi University.
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