The thunderstorm pounding Mexico City was fierce enough to suggest that the ancient Aztec deities were mightily displeased. Nevertheless, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas had no trouble assembling more than 100 journalists last Monday night outside his mother's house, the unofficial headquarters of his quixotic presidential campaign. "The figures that we have received show that I have won," he intoned as lightning sliced ominously through the black sky. "We won. Definitely." At precisely that moment, the house went pitch dark, the electricity knocked out by the storm.
Meteorological omens aside, Cardenas' pronouncement was soon contradicted. Two days later, Mexico's Federal Electoral Commission released the...