Fox Jolts Mexican Politics Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Fox Jolts Mexican Politics By Ken Guggenheim Associated Press Writer Tuesday, June 1, 1999; 1:28 p.m. EDT GUANAJUATO, Mexico (AP) -- Standing on stage at a legal conference, Gov. Vicente Fox looked as though he had forgotten what he was supposed to wear that morning. The other panelists wore conservative suits and ties; Fox was dressed in a sky-blue cotton shirt open at the neck, cowboy boots and giant ``Fox'' belt buckle. The casual dress was no accident. Fox is trying to break the governing party's 70-year hold on the presidency, and his choice of clothing is only one way he's hoping to stand out. He jolted Mexican politics by launching his campaign three years before the July 2000 election. And he has relied on advertising in a way more typical of U.S. campaigns than Mexican ones. Fox has eschewed the quiet dignity that most candidates try to convey for an image of a brash, tough-talking cowboy who wants to tear Mexican politics apart. ``The people have absolutely no confidence in politicians,'' he said in an interview. ``I prefer to be identified much more closely with the public than with politics.'' So far, his strategy seems to be working. He has surged from a little-known governor of the small, northern state of Guanajuato to the top of opinion polls. He has built an organization so strong that no one in his center-right National Action Party dares challenge him for the party's nomination. Candidates from other parties were forced to begin their campaigns early, fearing they would fall out of contention. Yet the keys to his early successes could lead to his defeat. There's a long way to go before the election, and some think he may have peaked too soon. No one knows if Mexicans -- who are used to treating presidents like kings -- are ready for a candidate who tries to be a regular guy. Fox has to defeat the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which many Mexicans consider as much a part of their lives as tortillas and beans. He has to overcome the party machinery, famous for using patronage, threats and sometimes cheating to stay in power. And Fox has to do it under the banner of his own party, known as the PAN, which has strong support in the north but little elsewhere. Fox believes it can be done. ``The public is now fed up,'' he said. ``The public isn't going to sit around now and suck its thumb. It's not going to accept ... a PRI candidate with the eternal promise of doing something new to change things.'' When he decided to run, Fox said, he knew he had to jar the political system. His decision to start campaigning nearly two years before tradition dictates was seen as audacious and, to some, ridiculous. Fox argued the early start was needed to wrest control of the political calendar from the PRI and to make inroads in poor, rural communities where the PRI has a lot of support -- and where television ads are not effective. ``You almost have to go house-to-house, person-to-person,'' he said. Fox, 57, is a 6-foot-3, physically imposing man with a booming baritone voice, bushy mustache and gray-flecked black hair. A former president of Coca-Cola for Mexico and Central America, he likes to project himself as a successful businessman who, if elected, can revive Mexico's economy. His political career began in 1988 when he was elected to Congress. In 1991, he lost a gubernatorial election in which PAN claimed fraud. Four years later, he won in a landslide. He is the PAN's best hope in its 60-year history to win the presidency. Yet many in the party are nervous about his candidacy, uncertain how closely Fox, a pragmatic populist, represents the party's conservative, Roman Catholic-oriented traditions. Some PAN leaders have scrambled to find an alternative for the party's nomination, to be determined for the first time by a primary. But no politician wants to take on a candidate who already tops opinion polls and has built a well-funded ``Friends of Fox'' organization that Fox says has more than 200,000 members. The funding has raised eyebrows. The group has released financial statements, but hasn't identified its biggest contributors. ``In Mexico, there's a popular saying that `He who pays, commands,''' said political analyst Alfonso Zarate. ``So the big question is, `Who is paying for Fox's campaign and what are the bills that Fox is going to pay if he wins the presidency?''' Fox said his campaign can't release names because large donors fear reprisals from the PRI. Zarate also questions whether Fox's campaign can maintain its momentum when the campaigns of other parties are in full swing. ``He is the only product in the market,'' he said. ``When there are two or three products, we are going to really see if this growth continues.'' (c) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-06.02.99-09:16:39-17595