Posted on 02/03/2004 8:19:10 AM PST by JustPiper
MEXICO CITY -- Members of President Vicente Fox's political party have formed a committee to back the first lady in a run for Mexico City mayor -- despite polls consistently showing her as a leading presidential candidate, a newspaper reported Monday.
El Universal newspaper quoted two Congressmen in Fox's conservative National Action Party as saying the mayor's office would be a natural first step in Marta Sahagun's untested political abilities.
''With this support committee we are starting a network that will help Marta Sahagun and that will begin making the necessary contacts,'' said Rep. Jorge Triana Tena.
Sahagun's spokesman David Monjaraz said the first lady ''had no knowledge of the existence of this alleged committee, not to mention who would be on it. This was not her initiative.''
In January, Sahagun applied to become a member of National Action's 300-delegate national council, a first step toward officially seeking the presidential nomination. Term limits bar Fox from seeking the presidency again.
Initially, Sahagun denied having any presidential hopes, but that soon changed to a wait-and-see attitude.
''It will take strong reflection, and it has to make complete sense,'' she said on the sidelines of the Special Summit of the Americas this month in Monterrey.
Shortly thereafter, National Action director Luis Felipe Bravo Mena said rumors that the first lady will seek the presidency were ''speculation that a lot of people are having fun with, but ultimately is not the least bit serious.''
Sahagun was Fox's spokeswoman before the couple married in 2001 on the one-year anniversary of his historic election. She has never held public office.
She broke the Mexican tradition of seen-but-not-heard first ladies, traveling around the country in support of the government and championing her private anti-poverty foundation.
Sahagun consistently has placed very high in 2006 presidential polls, close behind the front-runner, populist Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Lopez Obrador also has denied presidential aspirations, and term limits prevent him from running again for mayor.
You pine for PRI? You think it will improve things?
You'll get your wish and pay the price.
And you think Vicent's ambitious, money-loving wife of 2 years is any better than PRI candidates? His own kids despise her. Her ex-husband --- the one who was married to her when she became involved with Vicente (the pretend-upstanding-Catholic) has some interesting comments about her too.
Thank you for that important info, pious Fitz.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.