Mexico vote may give Latin America left new victory

Reuters.com: "MEXICO CITY - A combative champion of the poor is the slight favorite to win Mexico's bitterly fought presidential election on Sunday and extend a left-wing revival in Latin America right up to the U.S. border.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has a razor-thin lead in polls over conservative ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon, raising fears of unrest if the loser in a close vote cries foul and challenges the results.

Lopez Obrador worries many in Mexico's rich elite and middle class who believe he could wreck the economic stability won by conservative President Vicente Fox, and line up with other Latin American leftists in challenging U.S. policies.

Although Lopez Obrador insists he has no anti-American ax to grind and will keep the economy steady, he wants to overhaul government in favor of the poor in a nation where at least half the population lives on less than $5 a day.

'We can't live with such economic and social inequality. It is not acceptable, it is not fair, that a few have everything and the majority lives without even the most basic needs,' Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday."
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