Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico City's former mayor (officially, 'Head of Government') has all but captured his party's nomination for the presidency in the 2006 election.

Independent polls show that if the election took place today, he would easily win. The leftist candidate, who gathers his support mainly from the poor, belongs to the Revolutionary Democratic Party(PRD)- a party that has been growing in both numbers and influence over the years. Until the 2000 election, the Insitutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) had held control of the presidency for over 70 years.

The conservative National Action Party's (PAN) victory that year, which gave Vicente Fox the presidency, convinced many that electoral corruption (if no other form of it) was over in Mexico. This has emboldended the PRD to seek the office held by Fox until next year (re-election is prohibited by Mexican law).

At this point, it looks like Obrador will have a good chance of winning the elction, though it is far from certain. Still, his rise to power and large following make many in America, including me, a bit uneasy.

Obrador exhibits a bit too many of the traditional Socialist traits for my comfort. I, like many others, fear that he will turn Mexico into anti-business, anti-American, Socialist country, much like Hugo Chavez did with Venezuela.

What Mexico needs is a viable, business-driven economy and a government free of corruption, not a Socialist leader that will change the economy artificially and superficially for a few years before it collapses- as all Socialist economies eventually do.