Apparently outgoing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Mohamed ElBaradei is a glutton for pain. After 12 tumultuous years at the IAEA, the Nobel Prize winner announced that he is considering a run for the Egyptian presidency in 2011.

While its unlikely that ElBaradei will win (his recent support for Iran has been extremely unpopular in Egypt and he was only popular with a limited set of the elite in the first place) or even become an official candidate, his potential candidacy does shake up the race in a couple of interesting ways.

First, it almost ensures that Hosni Mubarek will run for reelection once again. The age and experience gap between the ElBaradei and Mubarek's son and potential successor Gamal Mubarek would allow the challenger to gain a significant advantage.  Second, ElBaradei's candidacy would bring a great deal of publicity to an election that otherwise would have been largely ignored.   

For more details, check out the discussion over at the Boursa Exchange.