Mexico's early frontrunner formalizes presidential bid (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? The frontrunner in Mexico's 2012 presidential race on Sunday pledged to break past decades of political paralysis and deliver the country from a deepening spiral of drug violence and sluggish economic growth.

Thousands of cheering supporters rallied around Enrique Pena Nieto, the charismatic young ex-governor of Mexico's most populous state, after he registered in Mexico City as the official presidential candidate of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

With a 20-point lead in national polls, Pena Nieto, 45, is the most promising candidate for the PRI since the party that ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century lost power in 2000.

After two conservative administrations and growing frustration with rising crime and economic inequality, Pena Nieto is promising Mexicans change based on the PRI's long experience in government.

"Today in Mexico there is fear, anxiety, discouragement. But at the same time there is a growing force, optimistic, and sure that better times are coming," Pena Nieto told the crowd gathered at the PRI's headquarters.

"I am part of a new generation of Mexicans who are convinced that Mexico can transform itself," Pena Nieto said, promising to make the country safer, reduce social inequality and spur growth to create jobs and opportunities for all.

PRI COMEBACK

Following its defeat in 2000, the PRI fractured. But the party's massive machine of unions, civil groups and farmers have rallied behind Pena Nieto. His good looks and message of change have captured wide support beyond the PRI's base.

"Unless the Virgin of Guadalupe intervenes, he will win the election in a landslide," said George Grayson, a professor at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

Pena Nieto is seen by analysts and investors as Mexico's best chance to pass key economic reforms, such as opening the state oil company to private investment and reforming labor laws, due to the PRI's sway over the country's biggest unions.

While Pena Nieto's victory may seem likely, the PRI could falter in congressional races, which would hamper Pena Nieto's agenda. Rivalries between parties have scuppered major reforms ever since the PRI lost its congressional majority in 1997.

Three candidates are vying for the nomination of President Felipe Calderon's conservative National Action Party, with former education minister Josefina Vazquez Mota in the lead.

The leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) is backing Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who nearly won in 2006 but is now a distant third place in the polls. [ID:nN1E7AE1A1]

Mexicans will not vote until next July, leaving plenty of time for a reversal in Pena Nieto's fortune. Calderon came from far behind to win in 2006.

NEW FACE

By the end of its 71 years of rule, the PRI was synonymous with rampant corruption that undercut Mexico's economy and allowed the country's powerful criminal gangs to flourish.

PAN candidates are trying to tar Pena Nieto's image by suggesting the PRI is still in the pockets of drug cartels.

But those charges may not stick. Pena Nieto has given the party a new face after a term as a wildly popular governor of Mexico State, where he won support by building roads and schools and steered clear of any major scandals.

"In 70 years the PRI made mistakes, got lost and tripped up, but we have been learning and we won't let it happen again," said Emilio Gamboa, who leads the PRI's popular front.

During the PAN's two administrations, the economy has grown at about a third of the pace it needs to create enough good jobs for all the young Mexicans entering the workforce.

Meanwhile, more than 45,000 people have died in Calderon's military-led offensive against drug cartels. Many backed the move to challenge the gangs, but doubts are now growing.

"People think security has gotten out of the PAN's control," said Jose Antonio Crespo from graduate school CIDE. "While they think there was corruption under the PRI, at least there was order and more effective governance."

(Additional reporting by Miguel Angel Gutierrez; editing by Anthony Boadle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/wl_nm/us_mexico_election

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Obama turning to Biden for help in 3 key states (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A year from Election Day, Democrats are crafting a campaign strategy for Vice President Joe Biden that targets the big three political battlegrounds: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, states where Biden might be more of an asset to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign than the president himself.

The Biden plan underscores an uncomfortable reality for the Obama team. A shaky economy and sagging enthusiasm among Democrats could shrink the electoral map for Obama in 2012, forcing his campaign to depend on carrying the 67 electoral votes up for grabs in the three swing states.

Obama won all three states in 2008. But this time he faces challenges in each, particularly in Ohio and Florida, where voters elected Republican governors in the 2010 midterm elections.

The president sometimes struggles to connect with Ohio and Pennsylvania's white working-class voters, and with Jewish voters who make up a core constituency for Florida Democrats and view him with skepticism.

Biden has built deep ties to both groups during his four decades in national politics, connections that could make a difference.

As a long-serving member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden cemented his reputation as an unyielding supporter of Israel, winning the respect of many in the Jewish community. And Biden's upbringing in a working class, Catholic family from Scranton, Pa., gives him a valuable political intangible: He empathizes with the struggles of blue-collar Americans because his family lived those struggles.

"Talking to blue-collar voters is perhaps his greatest attribute," said Dan Schnur, a Republican political analyst. "Obama provides the speeches, and Biden provides the blue-collar subtitles."

While Biden's campaign travel won't kick into high gear until next year, he's already been making stops in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida this fall, speaking at events focused on education, public safety and small businesses and raising campaign cash. Behind the scenes, he's working the phones with prominent Jewish groups and Catholic organizations in those states, a Democratic official said.

Biden is also targeting organized labor, speaking frequently with union leaders in Ohio ahead of a vote earlier this month on a state law that would have curbed collective bargaining rights for public workers. After voters struck down the measure, Biden traveled to Cleveland to celebrate the victory with union members.

The Democratic official said the vice president will also be a frequent visitor to Iowa and New Hampshire in the coming weeks, seeking to steal some of the spotlight from the Republican presidential candidates blanketing those states ahead of the January caucus and primary.

And while Obama may have declared that he won't be commenting on the Republican presidential field until there's a nominee, Biden is following no such rules. He's calling out GOP candidates by name, and in true Biden style, he appears to be relishing in doing so.

During a speech last month to the Florida Democratic Convention, Biden singled out "Romney and Rick", criticizing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for saying the government should let the foreclosure crisis hit rock bottom, and hammering Texas Gov. Rick Perry's assertion that he would send U.S. troops into Mexico.

And he took on the full GOP field during an October fundraiser in New Hampshire, saying "There is no fundamental difference among all the Republican candidates."

Democratic officials said Biden will follow in the long-standing tradition of vice presidents playing the role of attack dog, allowing Obama to stay out of the fray and appear more focused on governing than campaigning.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal strategy. The Obama campaign has been reluctant to publically define Biden's role in the re-election bid this early in the run, though campaign manager Jim Messina did say the vice president would deliver an economic message to appeal for support.

"You'll see him in communities across the country next year laying out the choice we face: restoring economic security for the middle class or returning to the same policies that led to our economic challenges," Messina said.

Democrats say Biden will campaign for House candidates in swing states as the party tries to recapture some of the seats in Congress lost during the 2010 midterms.

And here again, the vice president's efforts in politically crucial Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida could be most important. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting 12 districts in those states that Obama and Biden carried in the 2008 presidential race but are represented by Republican representatives.

New York Rep. Steve Israel, who chairs the committee, said he believes Biden could be a "game-changer" in those districts.

"All he has to do is ask voters, has the Republican strategy of no worked for you?" Israel said.

Israel met with Obama and Biden at the White House earlier this month to discuss, among other things, their role in congressional campaigns. While Israel said he hopes Obama will actively campaign for Democratic House candidates, he said "the vice president has already volunteered."

___

Julie Pace can be reached at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_el_pr/us_biden2012

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