Excerpts - WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- By this time next year Kofi Annan will be packing his bags ready to hand over the United Nations to a new Secretary General, but choosing the seventh U.N. head since the world body's inception in 1945 may not follow the usual formula, and could produce a surprise. Although Annan does not leave office until Jan 2007, behind the scenes the campaign for the succession is getting into gear, and diplomats in the glass tower on the East River expect the appointment to be sewn up well ahead of time, probably by next...