The 2006 Mexican presidential campaign kicks off after Labor Day — in Los Angeles...

...or, Mexican politicians have major league huevos.


The leading contenders are planning appearances in L.A. this fall, campaign aides confirm, in a bid to capture the attention and support of their country's newest constituency.

Last month, Mexicans living abroad were granted the right to vote by mail, beginning with the presidential election in July 2006.

There are estimated to be 10 million adult Mexicans living in the United States, and experts say a third or less are eligible to vote, though it is anybody's guess how many will cast ballots. About 37 million people, 64% of the registered electorate, voted in Mexico's 2000 presidential election.
The front-runners want to make every vote count, and they have little time. Mexican election laws forbid campaign appearances outside the country after candidates are selected this fall.

The right to vote abroad, and the billions of dollars sent home by emigrants each year, has turned the spotlight on a group of men and women more accustomed to being ignored.

"This is finally the chance to ask them what we want them to do for us in the United States, and for our families back home," said Primitivo Rodriguez, a voting rights advocate in Mexico. "As Mexican Americans have dramatically decreased their dialogue with the Mexican government, this shows the growing presence of a new Mexican voice in the U.S."

If these bastards weren't flaunting our laws this would be one funny story.

The U.S. immigrants come largely from poor villages in half a dozen Mexican states. But they learn trades and earn American salaries, extending a strong influence over family and friends back home. Their success inspires more and more Mexicans to seek a better life up north. And their growing numbers trigger unease among many Americans.

Now they have the attention of Mexico's political leaders.

The leading presidential contender, according to polls, is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who stepped down last month as mayor of Mexico City to campaign full time. His campaign lieutenant first talked of a Southern California visit during the inaugural of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in July.

So far, none of the candidates have set dates, each apparently waiting to first see what the other is going to do.

Before the mail-in balloting was approved, Mexicans living abroad had to return to their homeland if they wanted to vote.

Now the stakes have risen. When Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the founder of Lopez Obrador's left-of-center Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, came to Los Angeles in May 2000 to campaign for president, he drew about 250 supporters to an Olvera Street rally.

If Lopez Obrador could plan his visit for Sept. 15, Mexico's Independence Day, "we'll have at least 100,000 people" lining the streets of Huntington Park, said Felipe Aguirre in a telephone interview from Maywood. The paralegal is the party's former California chairman.

How sick is this? I don't imagine any American pol would dare deny them a permit for this nonsense.

Roberto Madrazo and Arturo Montiel, both seeking the nomination of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as PRI, will be their party's first rivals to campaign toe to toe in the United States when they visit Los Angeles this fall.