The Bionic Candidate

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In much of Mexico, however, politics is still a wholesale business. P.R.I. operatives line up hundreds of thousands of votes and pay for them--sometimes with social programs but often with washing machines or TVs or food. Many Mexicans are fond of saying that though they like Fox--and admire the adrenaline of his campaign--they'll vote for the stability of the P.R.I. U.S. officials, many of whom have met and like Fox, aren't worried by his politics, but they do worry that the P.R.I. will steal the election. The P.R.I., eager to stop Fox's run, has taken to aping his high-octane tricks: sexing up its advertising, pumping music into rallies, even hiring a team of male strippers for a rally that attracted 15,000 women. But Fox is betting Mexicans don't want a fake-Fox fiesta. What they want, the old Coke salesman says, is the real thing.