Parties battle for Mexico's swing vote

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Jun. 01, 2006
Parties battle for Mexico's swing vote
MIDDLE CLASS TORN OVER COUNTRY'S FUTURE
By Hector Tobar
Los Angeles Times

ECATEPEC, Mexico - José Luis Arriaga is the kind of voter Mexico's presidential campaigns are spending millions to reach -- or at least scare. If he makes the wrong choice on election day, they warn, his hard-earned savings might disappear into thin air.

They also remind him of what frustrates him most: spiraling crime, unemployment, rampant corruption and the fact that so many of his fellow citizens are leaving for the United States. On occasion, they appeal to his sense of social equality.

The taco stand owner is an undecided voter in an election being fought between two leading candidates who claim a strong base on either side of this country's class divide.

Former Energy Secretary Felipe Calderón of the conservative National Action Party has a passionate following among the country's well-off minority and its upper middle class. As for Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the onetime mayor of Mexico City, one need look only at the slogan of his leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party: ``For the Good of Everyone, the Poor First.''
(snip/...)

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/14714193.htm

[stepnw1f]

1. Go Manuel!!!!

Hell yeah!

[Judi Lynn]

2. Mexican PRI Senator Throws Support to Lopez Obrador

Mexican PRI Senator Throws Support to Lopez Obrador (Update3)

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican Senator Manuel Bartlett, the senior leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, urged party members to vote for rival presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Bartlett, 70, said in a radio interview today that his party's candidate, Roberto Madrazo, has no chance of winning the July 2 election. Bartlett told party members to cast their votes for Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution to defeat Felipe Calderon, an energy minister under President Fox who leads in polls.

``Imagine if you had someone like Al Gore start going on television and saying the Democrats don't have a chance,'' said Juan Lindau, chair of the political science department at Colorado College in Colorado Springs and author of three books on Mexico. ``That's a serious problem.''

Bartlett's abandonment of Madrazo may deal a final blow to the PRI candidate's flagging campaign while creating a new threat to Calderon, who has moved into the lead in opinion polls since the end of April, Lindau said. Infighting within the PRI could also hurt the party's chances of remaining the biggest in congress after the July 2 vote, Lindau said.
(snip/...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aTdoE3vJH5iE&refer=latin_america

[Judi Lynn]

3. Lopez Obrador Retakes Mexico Presidential Poll Lead

Lopez Obrador Retakes Mexico Presidential Poll Lead (Update1)

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, formerly mayor of Mexico City, retook the lead in a voter opinion poll ahead of the July 2 election.

Lopez Obrador, the Party of the Democratic Revolution's candidate, had the support of 34 percent of the voters, up from 33 percent at the beginning of the month, according to the poll released today by the Mexico City daily Milenio Diario. Support for Felipe Calderon, a former energy minister under President Vicente Fox, fell to 33 percent from 36 percent, the poll found.

``The candidates are virtually tied,'' said Jorge Chabat, a political scientist with the Mexico City-based Center for Economic Research and Teaching. ``Depending on the outcome of the next debate, they could remain in a statistical tie until the election.''

Lopez Obrador rebounded in the poll after losing support following a series of Calderon campaign ads criticizing his record as mayor of Mexico City and labeling him a ``danger to Mexico.'' The poll shows the ads boosted Calderon's popularity temporarily, Chabat said.
(snip/...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=a7VcwQUnCF1o&refer=latin_america

[redqueen]

4. Wow... the PRI's sr leader backs Obrador?

That's amazing...

Let's hope Obrador gets the support he needs!

[Judi Lynn]

5. It's quite a surprise. I did a real double take when I saw that one. n/t

[redqueen]

6. Thanks for the updates!

:hi:

:kick: