Dubbed the kingmaker for helping put President Mwai Kibaki in power five years ago, Raila Odinga is now intent on dethroning his former ally. The men fell out three years after their 2002 win, and Odinga has been on the campaign trail ever since.
With a flair unmatched in Kenya for rousing the masses, Odinga has wooed large blocs of voters beyond his traditional Luo base by playing to their disillusionment with Kibaki's record on corruption, security and tribalism. Victory appears tantalisingly close for the 62-year-old with the latest opinion polls showing his lead widening over Kibaki.
If he clinches this month's presidential vote, the former political prisoner will realise a long held ambition to rule Kenya and fulfil a dream that eluded his late father, a hero of the independence struggle who became vice-president. Success would represent Odinga's remarkable transition from a behind-the-scenes powerbroker, deemed "unelectable" by many just a few months ago, to the top job.
"The presidency is something he has wanted for a long time," said George Ogola, a UK-based analyst. "He would be the kingmaker who has made himself king. It would be a dream fulfilled, not deferred."
When Odinga quit the ruling party of outgoing president Daniel arap Moi in 2002 for a coalition with Kibaki, it was the masterstroke that gave the opposition its broadest ever support among the country's more than 40 tribes. The move sealed the defeat of Moi's KANU, which had monopolised power since independence in 1963 -- as well as Odinga's reputation for being a wily tactician.
Born in the deprived western Nyanza province, Odinga casts himself as a champion of the poor -- but one, critics say, with an ostentatious flourish, whose preferred mode of transport is a red Hummer for rallies and a blue Jaguar for other business.
The family's molasses plant sits close to the shores of Lake Victoria, the silver-coloured landmark rising above the many mud and thatch dwellings of a region that consistently ranks as one of Kenya's least developed.
With an engineering degree from communist East Germany and a son named Fidel Castro, Odinga has had to work hard to prove his capitalist credentials in a country enjoying an economic resurgence after years of decline under Moi.
His own Nairobi constituency spans two worlds -- a suburb of manicured lawns and English-style mansions and a teeming slum of open sewers and corrugated iron shacks.
Jailed by Moi for protesting one-party rule, his detractors say Odinga lords over his own Luo ethnic group, one of Kenya's largest, like a tribal chief. His word commands such a following among them that some wonder if there is dark magic at work.
It is this kind of contradiction that has earned Odinga adulation and loathing alike for much of his political life. "He champions the poor although he's bourgeois proper," said political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi.
"He stands for social democracy, social justice, equal distribution of wealth. Whether he lives up to that or not is another matter, but it seems to polarise people." A burly man with a penchant for referring to himself in the third person, Odinga is likely to introduce a brash style of leadership, if elected, that will contrast with Kibaki's laissez-faire attitude.
"A president needs to rein in his politicians, but this (Odinga's) style of leadership can also reduce space for political expression," Ngunyi said. "Raila does not believe in consensus through dialogue, he believes in consensus through domination. He will force his team players to agree with him."
Odinga counts Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda's Paul Kagame and Nigeria's former leader Olusegun Obasanjo as close friends. A photo of him with US Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama hangs in his office.
Belonging to one of Kenya's elite political dynasties, Odinga credits his father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga for instilling in him a sense of nationalism and social equality.
Nicknamed "Agwambo" or warrior in Luo, Odinga was one of Kenya's longest serving political prisoners, spending nine years in jail -- six in solitary confinement. He was first detained in 1982 after air force personnel nearly overthrew Moi, a coup attempt he later revealed he backed.
"Detention is a good school. You learn to reflect and think. You also learn tolerance, to be forgiving, particularly against your adversaries," Odinga told Reuters. "You also learn that time is of essence, that things should be done faster and better." Many Kenyan voters will be holding him to his word.
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