Crammed with white-suited politicos, the six-car caravan headed west from Havana along the broad Central Highway. At town after sugar-mill town, Liberal party leaders had turned out crowds to wave at Presidential Candidate Ricardo Núñez Portuondo. By the time he made his speech of the day, at Pinar del Rio, it was 1 a.m. "People are sick and tired of four years of Grauism," he thundered. The guayabera-clothed farmers had stayed to cheer. "Fueraout with them," they yelled.
With such campaigning last week, the gaunt, 6-ft. candidate of the conservative opposition was working mightily to close the lead of sleek,...