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CAIRO – A black smoke covered Cairo's Tahrir Square. Around a dozenprotesters who had been holding a weekslong sit-in demanding an endto military rule had come to the conclusion their gathering wasuseless. So over the weekend, they splashed gas on their tents andbanners, burned them to ashes and left. Last year, Tahrir was the icon on the revolution, where hundreds ofthousands massed daily in the uprising that ousted longtimeauthoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak in the name of democracy. Now, ithas seen better days, dirty and littered with trash. Street vendorssell everything from sandwiches to socks during the day. At night,young men peddle hashish. Ahead of Egypt's historic election for a new president next week,Tahrir Square's woes reflect the disarray of the protest movementthat called for a democratic transformation in the Arab world'smost populous nation. The revolutionary leaders, largely secular and leftist, have noviable candidate in the race. Instead, the vote has boiled down toa choice between former members of Mubarak's regime, who therevolutionaries believe will keep the old system intact and willnot challenge the military's grip on politics, and Islamists, whothey worry will impose an equally authoritarian system but based onreligion. The youth groups behind the revolution are left divided and muddledover the election and how to handle the post-election era. Somegroups call for a boycott of the vote. Many in the movement believe that the real confrontations are stillto come when they press their agenda on whatever new governmentemerges. But they are divided even on how to do that. Some question thereliance on protests since Mubarak's fall. Activists stagedmultiple protests in Tahrir the past year that repeatedly turned into bloody clashes with police and the military. But they oftenfailed to reach a unified list of demands or create a cohesivepolitical movement. And the turmoil turned sections of thepopulation against them, guided by a persistent military line thatthe protesters were to blame for chaos. "We are left with an orphaned revolution. The people don't knowwhat the revolution wants to do," said Rami Sabri, a member of thePopular Socialist Alliance, a newly formed party. Support from Egyptians craving stability amid the turmoil andeconomic woes has vaulted two former regime figures to front-runnerstatus — ex-foreign minister Amr Moussa and ex-prime ministerAhmed Shafiq. The latest polls have them slightly on top, thoughthe polls' reliability is unknown. Religious constituencies have elevated two Islamists: the MuslimBrotherhood's Mohammed Morsi and a moderate, Abdel-MoneimAbolfotoh. The revolutionaries who intend to vote have been split. Some— including Wael Ghonim, the Google executive famed for hisrole in the Facebook page that helped launch the anti-Mubarakrevolt — have backed Abolfotoh, drawn by his open views andstrong backing for the uprising. Another favorite is the youngest of the 13 candidates, Khaled Ali,a labor activist known as "the lawyer for the poor." Ali is a distant underdog in the polls and has almost no chance ofwinning. But his candidacy is aimed at showing Egyptians that therevolution does have a face. "Give the revolution a chance to rule," the 40-year-old Aliproclaimed at a recent rally. During the 18-day uprising that led to Mubarak's fall on Feb. 11,2011, the protesters' slogan was "bread, freedom and dignity." Under that slogan, the revolutionaries had multiple calls forchange. Security forces that formed the brutal basis for Mubarak'spolice state had to be reformed. A political system that ran onpatronage and corruption had be dismantled. The regime's grip onstate media that controlled the agenda had to be lifted. Theeconomy had to be reformed to benefit the large population of poorrather than a rich elite. Long neglected infrastructure anddilapidated hospitals and schools had to be rebuilt. Freedom ofspeech, long muffled by the police, had to be unleashed. Over the past 15 months, however, almost none of that has beencarried out. The military generals, who are all stalwarts ofMubarak's regime, took power after his fall and the bulk ofMubarak's system has remained. Most revolutionaries believe none of the top candidates will pushfor radical change. Ali, who helped organize labor protests in the early 2000s thatwere the first to call for Mubarak's ouster, has sought to set anagenda for the coming period. He calls for return of the publicsector and state subsidies of the poor. But at the top of his campaign is "demilitarization" of thecountry. The military is infused through the system. It provided all ofEgypt's four presidents. Former generals head many stateinstitutions. Most governors come from army ranks. Laws enshrinethe military's economic might — for example, giving it thepriority over large swaths of land, some of which it leases out tocronies. All this will take pressure to uproot, Ali said recently in one ofthe many political TV talk shows. "Mubarak is not just a name, it is a system, policies and a networkof interests. It will not go away without real confrontation." The military council dealt heavy blows to protesters the past year,with successive crackdowns that left dozens dead and others put ontrial before military tribunals. Ahmed Fawzy, Ali's campaign manager, said the protests turned into"useless confrontations." "We have gone too far in these rallies. With protests every day, itlost value," he said. "People came to hate the revolution." The tactic did bring some successes. Over the months, protestsforced the military to put Mubarak on trial and set a clearertimetable for handing over power. Also, many Egyptians recognize the elections wouldn't be takingplace at all without the revolution. For the first time, Egyptiansare fully engaged in politics. Private networks air daily debatesand interviews with most of the 13 presidential candidates. Inhomes, workplaces, coffeeshops, people are in heated discussionsnever seen before. Kamal Khalil, a leading leftist activist, says the continuedprotests swelled the number of "revolutionaries," and that this isa popular base for pressing demands for change in the future. "Egyptians are one thing before the revolution and another thingafter. We used to have thousands of revolutionaries, but now wehave tens of thousands," he told a recent gathering of a socialistgroup. As for the election, he dismissed it as a lot of fuss for nothing,using an Egyptian proverb. "A lovely funeral," he said, "but held for a dog.". 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