A Politician with a Past

Being governor of Bangkok is a formidable job: among other headaches, the candidate elected at the end of this month for a four-year term will have to deal with traffic problems, slums and pollution in the city of 10 million. Recent polls say the front runner is Pavena Hongsakula, a 55-year-old champion of women's rights who is promising to crack down on crime. Her leading rival is Chuwit Kamolvisit, 43, the city's massage-parlor king, whose massive pleasure palaces are said to have employed up to 2,000 women at any given time. He's vowing to go after a different plaguecorruptionand says he...