ALL PUTIN….

The SPS maneuvering is fringe stuff as far as Putin’s chances next Sunday are concerned. Four different opinion polls show him with the support of over 50 percent of the electorate, though his numbers are down slightly in the past two weeks. No poll gives Zyuganov more that 22 percent. In third place at 5 percent is Grigory Yavlinsky, the independent and reform-minded democrat who heads the Yabloko party. Polls say Putin runs strongest among relatively young and optimistic voters. The Independent Institute of Sociological Analysis, a polling organization, says fully 75 percent of potential voters expect Putin to strengthen Russia’s ties with the West.