Will economic reform trump democratic reform in Mexico?

Interesting developments in Mexican politics, as the President Vincente Fox is joining forces with his old nemesis, the PRI, to try to stymie the candidacy of populist Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party and Mexico City's mayor. Fox and his allies fear that Obrador is a clone of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and will undo the economic changes they've made since Fox came to office.

Trouble is, by pursuing basically trumped up charges against the mayor, they may be undoing the political reform that has been underway in recent years.

And Obrador denies any Chavez connection.

Still, Mr. López has put forward an ambitious plan aimed at the working class that flies in the face of the current government's mission to nurture private business. For instance, he rejects any plans to privatize Mexico's oil and energy industries. He has promised national food subsidies for people over 65 and free medicine and medical care for every citizen. He also wants to investigate a fund set up in 1998 to bail out banks.

"When you talk about populism, you have to be careful," he said to a reporter recently. "One talks about it when there are programs to help poor people, but rescue the bankers and we call it development."

This will bear watching, especially what involvement the Bush administration will have. After all, Bush came to office promising a new level of cooperation with Fox and a new era of relations with Mexico. Very little has changed, however, and Bush has done nothing to bolster Fox's popularity at home as a result.