Not that Felipe's gambit was successful: Almunia called a primary because he didn't feel legitimised, lost the primary to Borrell who encouraged Almunia to stay on as General Secretary, there was too much scheming in the two-headed PSOE and Borrell ended up resigning, then 3M voters stayed at home in 2000, so Almunia resigned triggering an extraordinary Congress and Zapatero won a 4-way contest at the Congress as a dark-horse candidate. All very dramatic.

Nothing is 'mere'. — Richard P. Feynman