By Lilia López How to bring in the New Year if you’re one of three men running for the Mexican presidency in 2006?

Whether you're a fiery former mayor of Mexico City, or a little known Harvard-educated lawyer, you came out fighting for the lead in a race that sincerely seems to be up for grabs.

PRD

As the race for the presidency tightened in these first weeks of the election year, there is growing uncertainty over who will be making the “usual” promises to the Mexican people come December. Political analysts continue to debate the standing of former front-runner Manuel López Obrador of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD). While most public opinion polls place the former mayor of Mexico ahead of his competitors with a comfortable 10 point lead, many Mexican media outlets have begin to note a slight decline in the center-left candidate’s standing. While López Obrador has enjoyed a substantial lead for the past several months, he may have to rethink his strategy as his better-financed and better-organized PRI and PAN counterparts kick into high gear for the remaining 6 months of the campaign.

PAN

Felipe Calderón of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) is making steady gains in the polls despite his party’s low standing nation-wide after a lack-luster six years of Vicente Fox’s administration. After officially registering with the National Election Institute on January 12, Calderón acknowledged that he is the least-well known of the three candidates and his campaign could easily be in trouble if he fails to connect with voters. In a speech during early January he assured the crowd, “I am fully aware of your needs and your problems.”

He went on to empathize with Mexican farmers who cannot bring in a profitable harvest, mothers who do not earn enough to support their children and youth who are unable to find “dignified” work after graduating from university.

Despite widespread disappointment in his party’s performance in recent years, many attribute Calderón’s recent gains to his intensive campaign style. “Our adversaries are agitated and upset,” said Calderón. [Our campaign] “is the only option that is growing, rising and increasing.”

PRI

Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate Roberto Madrazo took a major blow in December when Mexican newspaper, Reforma revealed that Madrazo owns a luxury penthouse in South Florida that was not listed on his official property disclosures. While the information itself is far from shocking, it only contributes to the PRI’s long-standing reputation for corruption and generally dishonest politicking.

Madrazo has denied any wrongdoing and while the revelation did not deal a major blow to his campaign, he continues to trail in virtually all public opinion polls.