Gypsy Jan - 7-5-2013 at 12:30 PM
From The San Diego Union Tribubune
By Sandra Dibble
TIJUANA - "Anyone in Tijuana unaware of Sunday's election would have to be living under a rock.
On Wednesday, residents received a final frenzied blast of political messages in newspaper headlines, television news shows, radio spots and candidate
interviews -- and much last-minute street-corner flag-waving by brigades party activists.
State electoral laws require a three-day cooling off period before voters cast their ballots, and by midnight, all campaigning was to come to a stop.
Across Mexico, 15 states have scheduled elections on July 7, but Baja California is the only one with a gubernatorial race. Voters will also choose
new mayors in Tijuana and the state's other four municipalities: Mexicali, Tecate, Ensenada and Rosarito Beach, and replace the 25-member state
legislature.
Mexico's National Action Party, the PAN, is fighting to hold onto Baja California, a symbolic stronghold for the party since its first gubernatorial
victory 1989, and on Wednesday the party's national president, Gustavo Madero, traveled to the state to lend his support. He was joined by Jesus
Zambrano, national president of the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution.
To stave off an effort by Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, to recapture the state house, the PAN and PRD have joined forces
with two smaller parties in an alliance called United for Baja California. At an afternoon news conference beneath the replica of the historic Agua
Caliente tower, the national party presidents flanked Tijuana mayoral candidate, Alejandro Monraz.
Meanwhile members of the rival PRI-led coalition Commitment for Baja California were busy planning the final campaign rally for mayoral candidate
Jorge Aztiazaran, scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. in downtown Tijuana."