1.   Both candidates were proclaiming victory in meetings with the press and with supporters throughout the day.

2.   Both candidates proclaimed plans to eliminate the tax, a common stance for suburban politicians that had long been dismissed.

3.   This, despite an unwritten code of election campaigning in Russia, which stipulates that all must candidates proclaim that they are dead certain of success.

4.   Though candidates are proclaiming their experience, many still prefer to deliver their pitches outside the confines of the wood-paneled committee hearing rooms in the capital.