Bush Doctrine: "In what critics call another sign of waning American influence in Central and Latin America, an "all-out" effort by the United States to convince Nicaraguans not to elect former Sandinista president Daniel Ortega to a second term has apparently failed. The Houston Chronicle reports that the "high-profile" push to stop Mr. Ortega included warnings – made by a former US ambassador, members of Congress, and even Oliver North, who was deeply involved in the Iran-Contra scandal in the '80s – that the US would cut off its $220 millions of aid if Ortega was elected. "They did everything but threaten to invade," said Mark Weisbrot, a Latin America expert at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington."