SURPRISINGLY?:

Polling places at schools and mosques in the Iranian capital were crammed today with voters in what has become a surprisingly competitive race to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the nation's president.

The campaign pits three major conservatives against a candidate supported by reformers and moderates, with six total contenders handpicked by the country's premier religious and political authority.

"I voted for Hassan Rouhani," said Ali Shokrzadeh, a blue-collar worker at a polling station in south Tehran. Despite having largely voted for conservative candidates in the past, a number of people in this poor and working class section of the capital also expressed support for Rouhani.

A moderate, Rouhani made a last minute jump in the polls as reformists threw their weight behind him, and because some conservatives say he appeals to them, too.

"I expect him to create more jobs," said Shokrzadeh, who decided to vote for Rohani since the election campaign began several weeks ago.

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