By JAMES CARNEY

Back in the early 1990s, when Russia's Communists seemed to be fading into irrelevance, Gennadi Zyuganov used to visit the apartment of Alexander Prokhanov, a virulently nationalistic newspaper editor. There, an unlikely gathering of politicians, generals and intellectuals from the far right and far left of Russia's ideological spectrum met to discuss the ruin they felt Boris Yelsin was bringing upon the motherland. They would form a mock Cabinet, dividing up the various portfolios among themselves. Deciding who got which job was never easy, but the consensus pick for the top post was always the same. ''We chose Zyuganov," says Prokhanov. ''Every time."

Zyuganov is, at once, red enough for old-style communists and white enough for hard-line nationalists. At a late-April meeting with the candidate in the town of Sosnovy Bor, due west of St. Petersburg, an old man with damp eyes and a Soviet-flag pin stuck in his lapel reverently described Zyuganov as ''one of the best leaders our party has ever had."

LEFT:Standing in front of a statue of Marx, Zyuganov woos voters
Misha Japaridze/AP