Earlier this week, the state election commission barred the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat al-Shater, a millionaire businessman and top Brotherhood strategist, from running in the Egyptian presidential election due to a Mubarak-era criminal conviction. Al-Shater was widely believed to have been the frontrunner until he, and two other major candidates (including the Salifis entry) were disqualified by the commission. But the Brotherhood had a back-up candidate already entered; a 59 year old engineer who heads up their Freedom and Justice Party. Mohammed Mursi doesn't have the name recognition of al-Shater, but he will benefit from the vast grass roots network the Brotherhood has been building for decades. Reuters: The Brotherhood's broad grass-roots network will help Mursi, but rival Islamists and liberal candidates who served under Mubarak have campaigned longer and can boast better name recognition. Mursi also needs to prove that as the Brotherhood's reserve candidate he...(Read Full Post)