Mexico Trucker Online

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — To the cheers of thousands of supporters and a serenade of mariachi music, presidential candidate Felipe Calderón ended a journey Wednesday night he had launched here almost by accident two years ago.During a 2004 visit to the country’s second-largest city as the nation’s energy minister, Calderón was singled out by the state governor as having presidential aspirations.

The revelation angered President Vicente Fox, and Calderón resigned.

At the time, no one expected the unknown Harvard-educated lawyer to win his party’s candidacy, much less become a real challenger to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the fiery left-leaning former Mexico City mayor who had led polls for more than two years. The two are now in a dead heat, according to the latest poll.

To chants of “Felipe,” Calderón told crowds of a visit many years ago to Guadalajara as a young party activist with his National Action Party, or PAN. He said he dreamed of a democratic, peaceful and safe Mexico, in a country that was still antidemocratic, authoritarian and violent.

 “That dream … will continue with another convincing presidential victory for the PAN this Sunday,” he said.

Mexicans head to the polls Sunday. Campaigning — on television, in person, in print or on the Internet — is forbidden as of today.

In coinciding rallies in their respective strongholds, Mexico City and Veracruz, candidates López Obrador and Roberto Madrazo also closed their campaigns Wednesday.

Guadalajara, the birthplace of tequila, mariachis and the Mexican cowboy image, was a natural place for Calderón to wrap up. The state of Jalisco, of which Guadalajara is the capital, is the most populous state controlled by his party.

Though candidates from Madrazo’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, have a strong possibility of wresting control of the state and its capital from the PAN, pollsters say the presidential vote here overwhelmingly favors Calderón.

“I came because I’m interested in the destiny of the country and believe that this party is the best option,” said Lourdes de Godinez, a housewife who said her children’s school has improved considerably under the PAN.

Godinez, 45, who spent three hours jammed up against a security fence waiting of Calderón, didn’t care about the discomfort or the rain clouds that released a downpour as soon as the candidate started speaking.

“I came here out of my own free will,” she said, referring to the common practice of political parties to round up supporters with promises of food, cash or other favors.

Calderón became a serious contender for Mexico’s one-term-only, six-year presidency thanks to the incumbent, a strong campaign and the meltdown of the PRI at the federal level.

Though Fox has been criticized for interfering in the campaign in favor of Calderón, which is prohibited under Mexican law, the relative popularity of the president has helped Calderón, say some analysts.

Fox, in 2000, ended 71 years of rule by the PRI in his historic election victory. His ambitious reforms never materialized, but he has kept Mexico’s economy stable and is slowly beginning to see economic growth and poverty reduction as his term ends.

Dubbed the “clean hands” candidate, Calderón attracted many Mexicans tired of corruption. Others will vote for him out of fear or dislike of the other candidates.

Ex-PRI supporter Antonio Hernandez voted for Fox in 2000. He then embarked for the United States where he spent almost six years working. When he came back to Mexico, he said he found an improved country and is going to vote PAN again.

“This is the first time I’ve come to a (political) event,” he said, noting that he’s seen improvement in government services and more support for the impoverished countryside. “I had never seen that before in all my 55 years.”

Calderón’s people portray López Obrador, of the Democratic Revolution Party, as a “danger to Mexico” whose populist leanings spell economic disaster. Madrazo, considered a throwback to the corrupt authoritarian PRI era, has floundered in the polls, causing prominent PRI members to join, or voice support for, either of the two front-runners.

“I don’t want … a cartoon character Mexico,” said Calderón, who had to cut short his speech because of the rain. “The Mexico seated beside a nopal (cactus), the hands below the poncho and the head bowed under the hat. I want … a distinct and better Mexico.”