Politics in Rome usually takes the form of posters. Everywhere there are poster boards - like miniature billboards - that have been covered with poster after poster pasted to one another. I walk down the street and there are literally piles of posters eight inches deep hanging down off these boards. Political candidates and parties love these as a form of advertisement, and frequently wallpaper entire streets with dozens of the same poster in rapid succession. Of course, its only days before they're ripped, covered, or graffitied.

Speaking of which, graffiti is another public way that Romans participate in politics. Italian political parties and coalitions identify themselves not by their name, but by their logo, which lends itself charmingly to graffiti. In Rome, I have found the graffiti to be very legible, and most often about one of three things: politics, soccer, or some kid's undying love for another. Graffiti has been in Roman blood since the time of the Caesars. Everywhere there are anarchist symbols, icons of the Christian Democrats, the Socialists and the Communists, and colorful insults of all sorts of figures, though primarily Silvio Berlusconi, the (former) leader of the government.

Silvio is a man both hated and loved. In my very non-professional analysis of the Italian psyche, it’s clear to me that Italians love fame - and Berlusconi's got it. He's the richest man in the country, owning everything from soccer teams to television stations. He's also a very attractive man, having had both a facelift and hair transplants (though those may, or may not, be rumors). He's shrewd, smart, charming and charismatic, and thus has a devout following akin to the groupies of the Beatles. But he's not exactly perfect: he has been accused of illegal activities both in business and in government; he has led the government into a period of zero economic growth and non jobs; and he has often made comments that are...shall we say, unbecoming of a head-of-state, such as the day not long ago when he accused the Chinese people of boiling their own babies. Or before that, when he compared himself to Jesus. Or the time when he said he'd abstain from sex with his wife until the election was over. The Italians love drama, and Berlusconi gives it to them.

His opponent, Romano Prodi, ran a campaign totally opposite that of Berlusconi in every way. He himself is a quiet man, an intellectual with thick glasses and wrinkles – the Italians call him “The Professor”. He made small appearances in small places, spoke softly and without the panache and hyperbole of his opponent. He made himself look to be everything that Berlusconi wasn’t, and that included wisdom and the ability to govern. When coupled with the ailing economy, this, more than anything else, was the fulcrum of the entire campaign.

So there I was last Friday in the Piazza del Popolo, one of the biggest squares in Rome surmounted with an enormous 3,500-year-old Egyptian obelisk. That afternoon Prodi’s coalition was having a pre-election rally: they had bands playing, free stuff and political information/propaganda, balloons, and enormous flags emblazoned with party logos. It was quite an affair, and overwhelmed the humble piazza. The last polls had been taken some days before: in Italy there is a law (I think) preventing polling near the election date, as it is feared they might skew undecided voters. Those polls had placed the two coalitions neck and neck, though with Prodi’s party a nose ahead.

Then came the election days, Sunday and Monday (another law, I believe, allowing everyone ample opportunity to vote on the most common days off from work). By Monday night, the news had gradually leaked out: the election was “razor-thin”. And it was. Even as I write this the result is in dispute: Prodi’s coalition won the lower house of parliament by just a few seats (25,000 votes), and the upper house by two seats out of three hundred fifteen. The nation voted en masse, with a turnout of 84 percent. Berlusconi, typically, refuses to concede and is vocally contesting the results, claiming that there were irregularities, while Prodi already is rallying his troops for the new government.

Reporting live from Miami-Dade County, Italy. Stay tuned.