By Sarah Rainsford BBC, Moscow

In Moscow it shouts down from hundreds of billboards. It is plastered to the noticeboard outside my front door. The message is glued to metro trains criss-crossing the capital.

United Russia's campaign is full of slogans borrowed from Putin

Russia is electing a parliament at the weekend but it is President Vladimir Putin and his policies that dominate the debate.

United Russia campaigns almost solely on its alliance with the president and most polls predict a comfortable victory.

After nearly four years in the Kremlin, the former head of the FSB - once the KGB - still appears to be riding a wave of genuine support.

Iron rule appreciated

A United Russia flier dropped into my post box this week informing me that its candidates stood for law and order.

"Now is a time for action, not ideology," the leaflet proclaimed.

Borrowed from the president, those slogans clearly touch a nerve in a country where the vast majority are still reeling from the political and economic chaos of the early 1990s.

A battle for Russia's airwaves passed largely unprotested... At election time, this newly subservient media is proving a powerful tool

Many people here firmly believe a dose of "iron-rule" from the top is precisely what Russia today requires.

Others, though, talk darkly of a resurgence of Soviet elements: a creeping cult of personality and the rise of old-style hardliners, the siloviki, in the Kremlin.

It is those forces many blame for the fraud case against oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, perhaps the best recent barometer of Mr Putin's rule.

The arrest of Russia's richest man sent shock waves through the business community.

Russia's elite talked of an authoritarian crackdown and the selective targeting by the Kremlin of its rivals.

Even US President George Bush called from Washington to express his concern.

Ratings soared

But among ordinary Russians still struggling around the poverty line, attacking a wealthy oligarch proved a popular cause.

Mr Putin has been criticised for backing United Russia openly

Most agreed wholeheartedly with the president's line that everyone must be equal before the law. His rating soared.

This iron streak is no new revelation. Mr Putin rode to power four years ago talking tough against separatists in Chechnya.

In the current election campaign, that conflict barely merits a mention.

The official position that the war is over has been carefully spun and swallowed.

Mr Putin and his policies are clearly popular here. Opinion polls consistently rate his support at around 70%.

The economy is improving, Russia's international status is rising.

Life for the majority is still far from easy but most seem happy to blame local officials, not the president, for their problems.

Media campdown

The Kremlin, though, appears loathe to leave anything to chance.

Mr Putin's time in office has seen an extensive clampdown on the independent media.

A battle for Russia's airwaves passed largely unprotested. Television news bulletins on all channels are now dominated by glowing coverage of the men in the Kremlin and their allies.

At election time this newly subservient media is proving a powerful tool.

Boosted by the biased coverage, United Russia looks set to dominate the next Duma, or parliament.

Mr Putin says that will allow him to push ahead with much needed reforms, but some see signs the Kremlin is looking for more.

A two-thirds majority would enable them to change the constitution, and extend the president's term in office.