Armando and Câmara are ready for war.

Pernambuco 247 – The game has begun. The 2014 election campaign officially starts this Sunday (6), one day before Senator Armando Monteiro (PTB) and former State Secretary of Finance Paulo Câmara register their candidacies for the government of Pernambuco with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Campaign spending forecasts are R$ 30 million for the congressman, who will have 5 minutes and 14 seconds of electoral guide, and R$ 19,4 million for the PSB candidate, who will have 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

Armando is part of the Pernambuco Vai Mais Longe coalition (PTB/PDT/PT/PRB/PSC/PTdoB), which has federal deputies Paulo Rubem (PDT) as vice-presidential candidate and João Paulo (PT), former mayor of Recife, running for Senate. Despite having less TV time, the PTB candidate has the support of President Dilma Rousseff and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, both from the PT.

"Our alliance isn't new; we have a shared political history. Now we have another step to take; we want Pernambuco to go further! Let's go together!", the congressman said on Facebook, referring to the leading figure of the Workers' Party.

The congressman began by focusing his pre-campaign on the interior of the state – Sertão and Agreste – regions where the PT, of Lula and Dilma, has strong popularity. According to a survey released in April by Jornal do Commercio/Instituto de Pesquisa Maurício de Nassau, the head of the federal Executive branch has 53% popularity in the Sertão and 47% in the São Francisco region, compared to 19% and 22% for the former governor and presidential candidate for the PSB, Eduardo Campos.

Pernambuco is the only Brazilian state where the PTB, which holds the second-highest number of mayoralties, has its own candidate. This is despite the party officially endorsing the senator's candidacy on the 17th. Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG), due to a dispute over positions in CEF with the Dilma government, Armando will continue to support President Dilma's reelection.

The difference between Armando's and Câmara's campaign spending can be explained by the expenses of the presidential campaigns. President Dilma set a spending limit of R$ 298 million, the highest among the candidates, which should have a strong influence on the PTB-PE's costs for the state election. Former governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, has a limit of R$ 150 million – Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB-MG) will have expenses of up to R$ 290 million.

The estimated expenses for the Senate are expected to be around R$ 8,5 million. Candidate João Paulo declared assets worth approximately R$ 1 million. The Pernambuco Vai Mais Longe coalition will contest the proportional election with 50 candidates for federal deputy and 98 for state deputy.

Paulo Câmara's coalition, the Popular Front, has 21 parties, the largest coalition in the political history of Pernambuco. The candidate has federal deputy Raul Henry (PMDB) as his running mate, and former Minister of National Integration Fernando Bezerra Coelho (PSB) is running for Senate.

"We won the first stage, which is the pre-campaign, where we formed the largest party alliance the state has ever seen, we talked to sectors of society, we went to municipalities in all regions, presenting our name and updating ourselves on the local reality and demands," said Câmara.

According to the PSDB member, "now, the second part of this work begins, taking to the streets, taking our troops from house to house, making our name and our proposals known, returning to the places we have already been and going to those we have not yet had the opportunity to be in."

Since his campaign time will be much greater than Armando's, the former secretary will be forced to adopt more strategies to diversify the topics of his speeches. Bezerra Coelho's candidacy for the Senate could cost R$ 8,5 million. Like João Paulo, the former minister disclosed that his personal assets amount to R$ 4 million.

The other candidates for governor of Pernambuco – Jair Pedro (PSTU), Miguel Anacleto (PCB) and Zé Gomes (PSOL) – will each have less than two minutes.