A New Mubarak Ready to Take Over Egypt?

Rumors that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will have his son Gamal succeed him are looking less like rumors and more like fact, writes Kristen Chick in the Christian Science Monitor. Mubarak is 82 and in failing health, and it's not clear whether he'll run for re-election next year. (His victory would be a mere formality.) Now, with a rash of signs in Cairo proclaiming "Gamal Mubarak: Dream of the Poor," it seems the elder Mubarak is moving to put a succession plan for his son into place.

The signs are significant because posters put up by independent groups promoting other candidates have been swiftly removed—yet the Gamal signs remain. Mubarak made a sign of a different type earlier this month when he took Gamal along on for talks with President Obama on the Israel-Palestine situation. Observers speculated that Mubarak brought Gamal to get Obama's approval of this less-than-Democratic transfer of power.
(More Hosni Mubarak stories.)