Sawt Falasteen - In Lula's home state, Brazilian rodeo riders lean left

Northeastern Brazil's harsh, semi-arid Sertao region is the birthplace of this unique rodeo tradition, in which cowhands on horseback chase a charging bull through thick, cactus-strewn scrubland, racing to grab a leather tag from around his neck.

One at a time, hundreds of bulls are released from a narrow pen, charging into the bush as two-person teams give chase. The winner is the team that returns their tag to the starting line fastest -- sometimes sprinting on foot, for those who fall off their horses.

Bleeding from his left eyelid, cowboy Jose Vasconcelos looks like he just had a near-death experience as he strips off the heavy, head-to-toe leather get-up riders wear for protection.

But even though he failed to catch his bull, he is beaming.

"It's the best! Wow, the adrenaline. I can't even explain it," says the thickly built 29-year-old, who has previously smashed up his arm, leg and collarbone while competing.

Besides the whoops of the cowboys, the jangling of spurs and the smell of barbecue, there is a heavy hint of politics in the air at Fazenda Piuta, a cattle ranch outside Cabrobo, in Pernambuco state, a five-hour drive from Lula's hometown.

The election showdown between the ex-president (2003-2010) and Bolsonaro is in full swing, and -- as seems to be the case for virtually everyone at the rodeo -- Vasconcelos is no fan of the incumbent.

"I don't know much about politics, but I know this: Bolsonaro ain't a good president," he says.

Economical with his words, he cites a common complaint: inflation.

"In Lula's day, gas was cheaper. Everything was."

- Horseback prayer -

Brazil's giant agribusiness sector broadly backs Bolsonaro -- the third "B" in his "Bibles, bullets and beef" coalition.

But northeastern cattle farmers are outliers.

The region, Brazil's poorest, is also a key electoral battleground, home to one-fourth the country's 214 million people.

Lula, who won the first-round election on October 2 by a tighter-than-expected 48 percent to 43 percent for Bolsonaro, won the northeast with a crushing 67 percent.

Bolsonaro, who took just 27 percent in the region, is hoping to do better in the October 30 runoff, but he faces a tough fight.

Ana Gabriele dos Santos, a 25-year-old farmhand helping prepare the horses, was only a child when Lula last won election 16 years ago. But she says she grew up hearing how much his social programs helped people.

"Ever since I was a kid I heard people talk about Lula. We were for Lula then, we're for Lula now," she says.

"He's from here, he knows what it's like. He thinks about the poor. Bolsonaro doesn't. He just thinks about winning."

Preparing for his rodeo run in his traditional leather gear, Marcelo Nogueira, 30, cites two examples: a new $115-a-month welfare program called Auxilio Brasil, and a massive irrigation project rerouting the Sao Francisco river, both of which Bolsonaro claims as successes.

"Bolsonaro is worthless. He invented this 'Auxilio Brasil,' but it's just a new name for 'Bolsa Familia' (Lula's signature welfare program). And all he did was inaugurate the irrigation system. The one who started it was Lula," says Nogueira.

"My whole family's with Lula. I think the whole northeast is with Lula."

The rodeo starts with a Catholic mass on horseback, where a priest blesses the riders and prays for their safety.

It is no trivial matter. Two weeks before this event, a cowboy was impaled by a branch in the parched scrubland and died.

The danger doesn't diminish the appeal for die-hard fans, who climb atop trucks or scale the thorny trees to cheer on riders.

"We live for this. It's bigger than football here," says Maria de Moraes, 48, a farmer and self-described rodeo addict.

One other thing gets her equally fired up.

"Lula, Lula and Lula," she says when asked which candidate she is voting for.

"I get goosebumps just talking about him."

E.AbuRizq--SF-PST