Looking younger all the time

After winning Italy’s election, 71-year-old Silvio Berlusconi has spoken a great deal about being older and wiser in the ways of politics, having already served twice as prime minister. But there is no doubt that the conservative billionaire — thanks to cosmetic surgery including a hair transplant — looks much younger in many ways than he did when he last won a parliamentary election in 2001. Compare the pictures above, the first from his 2008 campaign and the second from November seven years ago.

Berlusconi, a former cruise ship crooner who built a media empire from scratch, is proud of his appearance. He bragged on Tuesday that one foreign correspondent had even asked him if he was younger than his 52-year-old election rival — Walter Veltroni.

I remember at a press conference in 2004, Berlusconi was asked about his hair transplant and said that he believed his more youthful image made him a better ambassador for Italy.

“I have taken one of the choices of modern life,” he said at the time. “It is a way of showing respect to those who share your life, your family. It is a way of showing respect to those who expect you to represent them on an international and national stage.”

When I told my wife that I was going to meet porn star Milly D'Abbraccio at her apartment the other day, during office hours, with a camera crew, she had the same reaction that my boss did: sounds like a great story. That's because D'Abbraccio is running for public office, just like Cicciolina did decades ago.

If Cicciolina was known for her impromptu striptease, then D'Abbraccio's calling card must be her bottom -- which she plastered on campaign posters gracing the walls of the Eternal City (see below). Her campaign poster complains that Italians are tired of the same old faces in politics, and uses the Italian swear word for backside to describe what their faces look like.

It's hard to find the right balance as a journalist when interviewing a porn star for a political story. There was an uncomfortable moment when, cameras rolling, D'Abbraccio started listing her favourite films, which include "Professoressa di lingue" or Professor of languages (and tongues). I admit, I had to fight very hard to stop from laughing out loud.

A long-time Reuters correspondent who has tossed questions at everyone from Hugo Chavez to Hamid Karzai, I'm used to being deadly serious. But was that same attitude necessary or even helpful in this interview? Did I need to nearly give myself a seizure to prevent myself from laughing? I'm assuming the name of that film was supposed to be amusing.

If you read the Reuters story, you'll see that D'Abbraccio knows how to have fun when answering stale questions from "serious" correspondents. We'll see if that skill is enough to get her elected to city hall.

It's no secret in Italy that the underdog candidate for prime minister, Walter Veltroni, likes Barack Obama -- and likes him a lot.

Veltroni's campaign motto "Si può fare" is a literal translation of Obama's "Yes we can", and his campaign mantra of change seems to take a page straight out of the Obama playbook. His party has sought to highlight their similarities, even quoting George Clooney saying Veltroni and Obama "are the most responsible people I have ever met".

Veltroni acknowledges he's looking to Obama for inspiration, and his supporters are increasingly looking across the Atlantic as well.

One good example is the music video that Veltroni's celebrity fans put together that they acknowledge was modelled after the one that Black Eyed Peas did for Obama with the help of Scarlett Johansson.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= CjGtwJUQq-I[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 1yq0tMYPDJQ [/youtube]

What does Veltroni's rival have to say about this? Silvio Berlusconi, a conservative media mogul who is ahead in the polls, has pounced on Veltroni, calling him an Obama-wanna be. Berlusconi also has criticised Obama for taking sides in the U.S. election, asking what will Veltroni do should Hillary Clinton or John McCain become the next president.