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A look at the rise of outgoing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, exploring how a provincial politician with a PhD in traffic management became a personality to be reckoned with on the international stage. Since his election in 2005, President Ahmadinejad has become the most well-known Iranian since the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini. He has challenged his country's Supreme Leader and goaded the United States, earning him both admiration and loathing. He cannot run for re-election in June 2013 but he is seeking to continue his influence by backing a candidate whose outspoken comments defy the conservatives who have dominated Iran since the 1979 revolution.