While  most in the US of A have been engrossed with the churning presidential  and congressional contests, south of the border Mexicans are preparing  to cast ballots on Sunday to also elect a new president.

The  campaigns have been a mixture that could be called after the movie,  "Sex, Lies and Videotape". One candidate in the upcoming election has  even been shown barebreasted on billboards trying to appeal to the more  animal instincts of voters.

The  front-runner is Enrique Pena Nieto, candidate of the Institutional  Revolutionary Party (PRI), which was in power for most of the last  century. Pena Nieto claimed 41.2% in a June 18 poll.

In 2nd place in the poll was Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the 2006 runner-up and former mayor of  Mexico City, with 23.8%.

The ruling party's, National Action Party (PAN), candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota trailed with 20.6%.

Mexican markets are already poised for a return to power of the PRI and a Pena Nieto presidency.

What  impact this may play on relations between the US and Mexico is not  known. It is also uncertain whether the ongoing war with the Mexican  drug cartels will dimminish or intensify.

From  the Cornfield, whoever is in power with our neighbor to the south does  shape US policy. With the issue of immigration and illegal aliens being  brought front and center in the US presidential race, it bears watching  how Mexicans vote on Sunday.

http://reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-mexico-election-idUSBRE85Q0S420120627