Locals: To vote or not to vote

Costa Mesa resident Jose Luis Gonzalez could have just mailed in his vote for the new Mexican president.

Instead, he decided to drive more than 100 miles to Tijuana to cast his ballot on Sunday for leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The Mexican-born writer said he felt his vote would “count more” if he did it in person.

Besides, Gonzalez, a free-lance journalist, wanted to be in the thick of this unprecedented election between runners-up Obrador and conservative candidate Felipe Calderon from outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox’s National Action Party.

Gonzalez is among the estimated 10 million Mexicans living in the U.S. who were allowed to vote for the first time in this election, which was too close to call late Sunday.

Other eligible voters, though, did not share the same enthusiasm as Gonzalez.

Maria Mariscal of Anaheim said she doesn’t see anything changing for the poor with the new president.

“When they get elected, they all make promises. But later it turns out to be pure fraud,” Mariscal said as she spoke to a reporter outside the Metate market on west 19th Street.

Luz Velasquez agrees.

The Santa Ana resident said politics, specifically Mexican politics, do not interest her.

“I knew a new president was going to be elected, but it’s sad to say, that the same type of (politician) always wins,” Velasquez said.

Mariscal is not optimistic about the new president, but hopes his decisions will benefit the poor in Mexico.

The last presidential election in Mexico was in 2000 when Fox won, ending 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, better known by its acronym PRI.

All candidates, including PRI’s Roberto Madrazo promised, if elected, to work on a stronger relationship with the U.S. and on an immigration policy to allow Mexicans to work legally in the U.S.

Humberto Caspa, an adjunct professor in the Chicano and Latino Studies at Cal-State Long Beach said there were obvious differences between top candidates, Obrador and Calderon.

Obrador said he would be a president for the poor. And Calderon fears Obrador’s plan to help the poor, specifically the elderly, would hurt the nation financially.

Obrador has been compared to leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

“He is not a Chavez, he is more pragmatic and is aware of globalization,” said Caspa, who lives in Costa Mesa.

Caspa said if Calderon is elected he would continue Fox’s work of free trade and globalization.

“He is very conservative in social issues,” Caspa said. “I don’t see any changes happening (if Calderon is elected).”

Fernando Juares of Costa Mesa said Obrador would try to do a lot for Mexico’s poor.

“If Calderon won, he would continue with the same ideology (as Fox),” Juares said.