Hugo Chávez's Enemy No. 1

In the ramshackle town of Anaco in eastern Venezuela’s oil-rich Anzoátegui state, three yellow-shirted bodyguards rush a trim, perspiring, boyishly handsome 39-year-old in a baseball cap from house to shabby brick house through 500 cheering, flag-waving fans. Most in the throng are visibly poor, some are young women with tears of joy running down their cheeks. All are sweaty under a hot April sun.

The man they want to touch, Henrique Capriles, is the governor of Miranda state and the candidate selected in February by the Coalition of Democratic Unity to challenge incumbent President Hugo Chávez, 57, in elections scheduled for Oct. 7. Capriles’s strategy is to build a following among the poor—Chávez’s longtime supporters—with visits to private homes and small shops, meeting Venezuelans face-to-face. He’s made personal interaction with the electorate casa por casa (house by house) the pillar and slogan of his campaign. He has few alternatives: The national airwaves serve Chávez, and the few outlets that don’t are so openly hostile, most Venezuelans tune them out.