By Lilia Lopez Despite the insults, accusations and extremely confident opponents, when the pollsters spew out the numbers, things look good for López Obrador. PAN Felipe Calderón is making moves to incorporate an unlikely voting block into his campaign: Christian Evangelicals. In a surprising move in early February, the candidate of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) announced he would include a number of Evangelical Christian groups on his list of party supporters in the states of Chiapas and Tabasco. On February 8, Calderón met with representatives of several Christian denominations including the Delegates from the Assemblies of God, the National Baptist Convention, the Lord of the Center Church, the Christian Family Center and from Christian Cellular Groups. His political coordinator, Josefina Vasquez Mota told newspaper reporters that the meeting did not signify a “vote swap.” Instead the religious leaders used the time with the PAN candidate to share concerns about religious persecution, particularly in Chiapas, where evangelical faiths are attracting a growing number of followers. One religious leader, Hugo Erick Flores, noted it was important to represent Mexico’s various Evangelical communities at the federal and state levels as they have already have a significant presence throughout the nation. Calderón said his administration would be committed to the rights of religious groups, and would work to help them obtain access to mass communication media, religious education in schools, military evangelism, religious assistance in hospitals and penitentiaries and would even lift restrictions that barred ministries from making political expressions. PRD The Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador doesn’t seem about to give up his leading position anytime soon. In a recent poll conducted by Reforma, about 38% of Mexicans say they will support the former Mexico City mayor come July 2. Although support for López Obrador has dropped slightly since January, he still maintains more than a 5 percent lead over the second-place holder, the PAN’s Felipe Calderón who had 31 percent of voter support in the same Reforma poll. The latest controversy to hit the López Obrador campaign has involved the leftist mayor’s alleged ties to the dynamic Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez. Along with denying a formal relationship to the Venezuelan government, the PRD also denied it has received assistance from the FARC in Colombia or the Cuban government for any of its candidates. The PRD released a statement saying it denies "that the party or the campaign of Andrés Manuel López Obrador maintains ties with violent groups and denies also that there exists some kind of infiltration of these kind of organizations or any other financed with resources from outside the country, including the Venezuelan government." Despite his populist platform and record of liberal social spending during his mayor ship, López Obrador is considered to have shifted his politics to take a more a centrist approach during the presidential campaign by some analysts. PRI Continuing to struggle in last place, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate, Roberto Madrazo is considered by many, to be on his way out of this presidential race. Almost all major public opinion polls place the fifty-three year-old in third place, usually trailing at least 3-4 percentage points behind the PAN’s Felipe Calderón. Madrazo’s polling is the worst ever for the PRI, a party that dominated the Mexican political scene for over 70 years. Almost 4 out of 10 Mexicans have a bad opinion of Madrazo, a figure that outlines just how much work the PRI has in front of it, if it is to reclaim the presidency in July. Unfortunately for Madrazo, his campaign got off to a rocky start and has not been able to recover since. Infighting and a general lack of unity has plagued the party since the before it held primary elections in March. As a result, Madrazo has gotten plenty of experience battling opposition forces from within his own party. To earn the nomination of the PRI he overcame the opposition of a group of PRI governors grouped together under the name, “Everyone Against Madrazo.” In spite of negative press, bad polling numbers and party disharmony, publicly Madrazo doesn’t seem to be looking ahead. During in a recent campaign stop in Tlaxcala he told reporters, “The poll that matters to me is the one on July 2. It is the mother of all polls. ”