ONCE HUSH-HUSH, DRUG WAR PLAYS BIG IN MEXICO VOTE

MEXICO CITY -- When Mario Anguiano successfully ran for mayor of Colima
three years ago, no one much cared that his brother and cousin were in
prison on drug charges.

Now that he's running for governor of Colima state, a banner appeared
in the capital city mocking Anguiano's family ties by linking him to
the Zetas, a gang of drug hit men:

"Welcome to Colima! Soon to be territory of our boss of bosses, Mario
Anguiano Moreno. The Zetas support you, and we are with you until death."

The drug war is playing in Mexico elections like never before. Usually
a taboo subject hiding in plain sight, drug-trafficking didn't figure
prominently in political campaigns, even in places like the Pacific
coast state of Colima, where Manzanillo port is a major transshipment
point for U.S.-bound cocaine.

Anguiano's Institutional Revolutionary Party denies any involvement
with drug traffickers and accused the ruling National Action Party of
hanging the banner - which it denies.

But in the July 5 midterm elections for 500 congressional seats, six
governors and 565 mayors, President Felipe Calderon's party, known as
the PAN, is aggressively painting opponents as soft on drugs and
itself as the only party gutsy enough to take on the cartels.

"It's the first elections where a party is directly linking itself to
the drug-trafficking issue," said Juan Azcarraga, the director of
Mexican polling firm Ipsos public affairs. "In the past, it was
touched upon in a superficial manner, like an insinuation."

The PAN is banking on a tough-guy image to keep its grip on power
against Anguiano's party, known as the PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71
years before losing the presidency to the PAN in 2000. The PRI is
regaining support among Mexicans fed up with an economic recession and
drug violence that has killed 10,800 people since Calderon took office
in 2006.

At the same time, a growing citizens' group disillusioned with what it
sees as ineffective politics as usual is urging voters to cross out
all candidates in protest.

A Ipsos poll in May indicated 11 percent of Mexicans would support the
protest vote, up from 3 percent in January, and 27 percent of voters
would support the PRI compared to 23 percent for the PAN. The poll
interviewed 1,000 adults face-to-face and had a margin of error of 3
percent.

If the PAN loses to the PRI, it would mean popular support has slipped
for Calderon and his bloody, U.S.-backed assault on the drug cartels.
It would also embolden his congressional opponents to block his more
controversial measures, including legislation that would give more
police powers to 45,000 troops deployed across Mexico to counter
corrupt law enforcement in the drug war.

The PAN has launched an ad campaign featuring some of Mexico's biggest
celebrities warning that a vote against the ruling party would mean a
return to times when Mexico's leaders let the cartels flourish.

In one television spot, beloved masked Lucha Libre wrestler "Mistico"
flexes his muscles, bounces around the ring and says: "A lot of people
say the fight against drug trafficking has never been as complicated.
The truth is, that for many years, nobody had fought against them.
Now, the president and the PAN are giving it their all, and we have to
support them."

Calderon's opponents accuse him of using the drug war for political
gain. They say it was no accident that federal agents arrested 10
mayors in the president's home state of Michoacan for allegedly
protecting drug traffickers just weeks before the elections.

But federal officials say they are merely targeting the worst areas
for drug violence -- and that PAN members are among those arrested,
including the mayor of Uruapan, where gunmen on Friday attacked an
ambulance with a grenade and guns to kill a wounded rival.

Prosecutors have levied organized crime and drug charges against seven
of the mayors, plus the former state attorney general and 19 other
officials. The other three mayors detained have not been charged, but
will continue to be held pending investigations, officials said.

Federal Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora alleged the charged
officials helped the La Familia drug cartel. He did not provide
details on the charges, but officials have said the suspects allegedly
leaked sensitive information to the drug gang.

Federal election officials say they're watching campaigns like never
before to detect any illegal influence -- doing random checks, urging
political parties to report irregularities and ordering investigations
into anything suspicious, such as a contender spending more money than
reported by his campaign.

So far they have no evidence of drug traffickers donating money to
candidates, said Leonardo Valdes, president of Mexico's federal
electoral institute.

But the institute is limited in its policing, as drug traffickers can
offer money under the table or use threats to cut deals with candidates.

The issue is dominating political campaigns from sleepy coastal towns
to swanky suburbs. Candidates who used to focus on pot holes and
unemployment, even as drug violence plagued their areas, are meeting
it head on.

After Anguiano won the nomination in Colima, PRI leader Beatriz
Paredes said federal authorities assured the party he was not under
criminal investigation.

The candidate's brother, Humberto Anguiano, is in prison in Mexico for
drug dealing, while his cousin, Rafael Anguiano, was arrested in Los
Angeles in a 1997 sweep that dismantled methamphetamine and cocaine
trafficking rings across the United States.

There is no evidence that Anguiano is tied to drug
trafficking.

Still, PAN national leader German Martinez wondered aloud whether
Anguiano would aggressively fight drug gangs, while assuring Colima
voters that there are no such doubts about PAN gubernatorial candidate
Martha Sosa.

"I'd walk through fire for Martha Sosa because she will not flinch
before crime," Martinez said.

But the drug-war strategy could backfire for the PAN in Nuevo Leon
state, where a frank-speaking PAN mayoral candidate in Mexico's
richest city, San Pedro Garza Garcia, was recorded telling supporters
that drug traffickers have contacted all leading political contenders
in the country seeking their loyalty.

Mauricio Fernandez also suggests in the recording that he would avoid
confronting the Beltran Leyva cartel, which controls the Monterrey
suburb, to maintain the peace.

The recording was leaked to Mexican media, which broadcast it
nationwide last week, prompting calls by opponents for his withdrawal
from the race.

Fernandez acknowledged making the remarks, but he said they were taken
out context.

"I don't know, nor have I sat down with, or anything of the sort with
anyone from organized crime," he told The Associated Press.

But for many Mexicans, Fernandez's remarks point out a weak spot for
the PAN: Some voters prefer peace to the mayhem that comes with
confronting drug lords.

Charlene Garcia, a San Pedro doctor, said many believe Fernandez was
just telling the truth.

"I don't think it surprises anyone that the Beltran Leyvas live here,"
she said. "The price of having a completely clean city would be too
high, and I don't think it's possible to wipe out drugs completely. It
would mean a lot of violence without changing anything."

Garcia, meanwhile, is considering marking an "X" through her ballot
and joining the protest vote.

"I think all politicians, once they are in office, have to work with
organized crime," she said.