Mexico Debate Sets Up Lopez Obrador to Challenge Chavez Image
Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will use a nationally televised debate tonight to respond to advertisements likening him to Venezuelas President Hugo Chavez, according to his campaign.
He has to show himself as someone who is secure and cordial to counter this image of an authoritarian leader, Manuel Camacho Solis, Lopez Obradors top campaign strategist and a former presidential candidate, said in an interview. He will just have to be himself and this image will fade.
Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, goes into his first and only debate after the Chavez ads by his leading opponent, Felipe Calderon, erased his three-year lead in opinion polls. At least six surveys show Lopez Obrador and Calderon, a member of President Vicente Foxs party, locked in a statistical tie less than a month before the July 2 election.
More: bloomberg.com
Mexicos Calderon next target of election attacks
Mexican presidential candidate Felipe Calderon expects rivals to make him the focus of sniping and negative campaign ads now that he has taken the lead in a closely watched poll, his campaign chief said.
Calderon, a conservative, knocked leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador out of first place in the poll on Tuesday and gained more ground with a winning performance in a televised debate that Lopez Obrador opted out of.
The shift could make Calderon the new target of mudslinging that has previously seen the two main challengers call Lopez Obrador a dangerous populist
Protesters set up barricades in Mexico City
Thousands of protesters set up barricades along Mexico Citys central thoroughfare Sunday night hours after the largest demonstration in Mexicos history filled the main square in support of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors election challenge.
Police made no effort to intervene as the protesters set up tents and blocked traffic, apparently in response to Lopez Obradors call for the establishment of 47 permanent assemblies to press his claims of fraud in the July 2 elections. Lopez Obrador lost the vote to conservative Felipe Calderon by less than 1 percent of 41 million ballots cast.
Leftist Candidate for President of Mexico Calling for Massive Aid from the U.S.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City and until recently the odds-on favorite to win Mexicos July 2 presidential election, promises to cut government spending while launching new welfare and public works programs to aid the poor.
Lopez Obrador (popularly known as AMLO, an appellation he has adopted on his own website) is a radical leftist whom many observers believe would lead Mexico into political alignment with Cubas Fidel Castro, Venezuelas Hugo Chavez, Brazils Lula da Silva, and other Marxists who have taken power
"Indestructible" leftist challenges Mexico's big two
The leftist candidate leading Mexico's presidential race on Sunday brushed off growing criticism that he is a populist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he was "politically indestructible."
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads opinion polls by up to 9 percentage points, responded to his rivals' criticism as his party took on the ruling establishment in a local election in the country's most populous state.
President Vicente's Fox's conservative party accused Lopez Obrador on Friday of illegally receiving aid from U.S. foe Chavez. The leftist's party strongly denies that.
Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas warned against populism,
Mexico's Lopez Obrador Slips in Polls; Maintains Lead
Former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the frontrunner in presidential opinion polls for more than two years, slipped in two surveys released today while maintaining his lead over rivals.
Lopez Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, led a nationwide poll taken by Reforma newspaper with 38 percent of likely voters saying they would choose him if elections were ``held today,'' down from 39 percent in January, Reforma said. The presidential election is this July.
``I don't think this changes the base-case scenario that Lopez Obrador will win,'' said
Venezuelas Chavez says normal relations with Mexico impossible
CARACAS, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said Sunday it was impossible for Venezuela to maintain normal diplomatic relations with Mexico because president-elect Felipe Calderon led a smear campaign against Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader also called Calderons election victory doubtful, suggesting the candidate belonging to Mexicos ruling National Action Party defeated leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by resorting to fraud.
How is the Mexican president going to hope that we have good personal (and) political relations? Its impossible, said Chavez, speaking during a television interview.
More : iht.com
Lopez Vows to Make Mexico Self Sufficient in Fuels
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the frontrunner in presidential polls for more than two years, pledged to make Mexico self sufficient in natural gas and gasoline in three years by increasing spending on the energy industry.
``Within three years, it's our promise and goal stop importing natural gas and gasoline,'' Lopez Obrador said during a Mexico City business conference.
Lopez Obrador said the lack of new refineries is ``criminal'' and promised to modernize the country's energy industry. Mexico now imports gasoline and natural gas from the U.S.
The candidate from the Democratic
Latest Frida merchandise sparks debate in Mexico
The mass marketing of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo's image has sparked debate in her homeland as a company plans to sell dolls in her likeness in December.
A Mexican doll maker will launch the 20-inch (50-cm) Kahlo replicas in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Spain, said Mara de Anda, a descendant of the legendary painter.
A line of jewelry, clothing and even a tequila with the artist's name have been marketed by her family in recent years after her niece, Isolda Pinedo Kahlo, obtained rights to register the name as a brand.
Some
Mexico election race turns as conservative surges
Mexicos ruling party presidential candidate appears to be pulling away from his leftist rival after aggressive TV ads propelled his dramatic surge in an election race being fought on economic policies.
A closely watched poll in the Reforma newspaper on Wednesday showed Felipe Calderon, a conservative, with 40-percent support among probable voters and his left-wing challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador trailing at 33 percent.
Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who promises to put the poor first, had been Mexicos most popular politician for three years and was the clear election front-runner until
Mexico conservative holds election lead in new poll
The conservative ruling party candidate in Mexicos presidential race has a 2-point lead over his main leftist rival, according to a newspaper poll published on Thursday that confirms a recent trend.
The survey by Excelsior newspaper gave Felipe Calderon 36 percent support compared with 34 percent for former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It was the first time Calderon has led the Excelsior poll, which last month showed Lopez Obrador ahead by 2 percentage points.
It follows a series of more closely watched newspaper polls that also showed Calderon moving ahead of the
