Rubalcaba strikes optimistic note ahead of face-to-face debate

Opposition leader Rajoy prepares in private for one-off meeting as party colleagues blast Socialists for being "stuck in the past"

A day before their televised debate, one candidate stayed at home to prepare in silence while the other sought the company of over 10,000 vehement followers.

Although all the polls predict a landslide victory for the opposition Popular Party (PP) on November 20, Mariano Rajoy took a day off from the campaign trail on Sunday to study for what will be just the fifth televised debate since the advent of democracy in the late 1970s. His team denied any jitters on the part of Rajoy - who is trying to move into the Moncloa Palace seat of government for the third time - and said that the Socialists are making it even easier for the PP to win because of their strategy of bringing back celebrated veterans to support their candidate, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, who they see as being "eclipsed" by figures like former Prime Minister Felipe González.

"We must not look to the past, as we've seen the Socialist Party do," said the PP's number two candidate, Dolores de Cospedal, at a party rally in Catalonia on Sunday. "They are the past, and Catalonia and Spain need to look to the future."

But Rubalcaba appeared unconcerned about this recurring criticism "by the right." At massive rallies in Seville and Valencia on Saturday and Sunday respectively, he expressed pride at being seen in the company of González - who was in power between 1982 and 1996 - and Alfonso Guerra, González's number-two man for much of that period. Rubalcaba himself served as a minister under González in the 1990s. "Of course I am counting on Felipe; it's a luxury to have him around," said Rubalcaba, who until recently also served as deputy prime minister under the outgoing José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

"Let's face the music and we'll turn those polls around," the Socialist candidate told a crowd of over 10,000 supporters in Valencia. Rubalcaba's strategy has focused on distancing himself from the Zapatero government, which is widely blamed for mishandling the economic crisis.