Television is playing a major role in getting information out to the Iraqi public about the various choices for the election.

In Sunday's election, in which few candidates' names are known, few issues have been debated in depth and many voters are too frightened to cast their ballots, television has emerged as the most effective way to communicate. In fact, in the battle for hearts and minds, the medium is more than the message; it's essentially the campaign....virtually entire blocks of commercials have been given over to the advertisements, many of them slick, emotionally charged appeals to get out the vote.

"We don't have the means to do anything else -- not rallies, not even billboards . . . because they were torn down by the other side," said Adnan Janabi, campaign manager for the Iraqiya coalition of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. "So we are using the media. We are using television as the medium of choice."

Who's watching? Most likely the rich, who can afford generators, because power is so intermittent in Iraq.