May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Argentine President Nestor Kirchner drew about 350,000 supporters to Buenos Aires for a rally to highlight the economy's recovery. Political analysts said Kirchner used the gathering, the biggest since he took office three years ago, to kick off his bid to win re-election in 2007.

Kirchner's administration bussed many of the supporters in from as far away as Tierra del Fuego in the southern tip of South America to Jujuy, a city near Argentina's northern border with Bolivia. The rally commemorated the third anniversary of Kirchner's inauguration as well as the anniversary of the Argentine colonists' uprising against the Spaniards in 1810.

``We believe in the Argentina where happiness can be restored,'' Kirchner, wearing a navy blue suit without a tie, told supporters. ``We believe in the Argentina of joyful times.''

The rally, held in front of the presidential palace at the Plaza de Mayo, cost 5 million pesos ($1.6 million), according to La Nacion newspaper, and was attended by governors, lawmakers, opposition politicians as well as actors, singers and human rights activists. Miguel Nunez, a spokesman for Kirchner, declined to comment on the cost.

``The only reason to put together a show of force like this is to kick off the re-election campaign on a strong footing,'' said Ricardo Rouvier, a pollster at Rouvier & Asoc. in Buenos Aires. ``The government has gone to huge lengths to put together such a cross-section of the country's political and social forces.''

Polls

Organizers estimated about 350,000 had packed the plaza. The Interior Ministry hasn't finalized its estimate yet, a ministry spokesman said. Supporters brought flags that read ``Kirchner 2007'' and chanted ``Kirchner, friend, the people are with you.''

``I hope to have Kirchner for four more years; we need him,'' said Adrian Flores, 46, who traveled 18 hours by bus from the northern province of Tucuman to attend the rally. ``I wouldn't make such a long journey if I wasn't sure that he will help Argentina completely recover from the crisis.''

Kirchner, 56, dwarfs his political rivals in polls after three years of economic growth of more than 8 percent.

A poll this month by Rouvier showed that 54.3 percent of Argentines back Kirchner while 19.8 percent support Mauricio Macri of the opposition Pro party and 13.2 percent back Elisa Carrio of the ARI party. Rouvier surveyed 1,200 people throughout the country from May 6 to May 16 for the poll, which has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

Three years of economic expansion, fueled by record exports of commodities such as soybeans, steel and oil, have strengthened Kirchner's popularity by driving down the country's jobless rate and driving up wages.

Default, Devaluation

The unemployment rate fell to 11.4 percent in April from 20.8 percent at the end of 2002, when the country was still reeling from the government's $95 billion debt default in 2001 and subsequent currency devaluation. The average worker's salary has risen 51 percent to 839 pesos a month from 552 pesos when Kirchner took office three years ago.

``We don't want growth anymore like that of the 1990s, where only a small group got wealthy,'' Kirchner said. ``If Argentina is doing well, the workers, the middle class and the business executives all have to be doing well.''

Argentina's economy, while now saddled with quickening inflation sparked in part by higher government spending, is still poised to grow 7.5 percent this year, according to Pablo Goldberg, an analyst with Merrill Lynch & Co.

Plaza de Mayo

Rosendo Fraga, a political analyst with Nueva Mayoria pollsters, said Kirchner chose to hold the rally at the Plaza de Mayo for symbolic reasons.

The plaza -- where first lady Evita Peron addressed the nation in the 1940s and 1950s and where mothers marched decades later to demand the military dictatorship provide information on the whereabouts of their detained children -- was the epicenter of riots that left more than 30 people dead in late 2001, weeks prior to the default.

Kirchner wanted ``to contrast the joyful nature of the rally to the grim days of the default, when the country was in the hands of the opposition,'' Fraga said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Helft in Buenos Aires dhelft@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 25, 2006 16:31 EDT