Mexico; Feeling thermometer

Mexico

Felipe Calderón has been officially declared the winner of Mexico's July 2 presidential election. The continued protests over Mexico's election by defeated candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his followers have the makings of a national tragedy. Enrique Krauze, who in my opinion is the wisest commentator and historian of Mexico, tells why in this excellent opinion article that appeared in the Washington Post.

Feeling thermometer

The Quinnipiac poll has provided "feeling thermometer" ratings for 20 leading political figures. George W. Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton fall below the 5.00 level, which indicates neutral feelings--no surprise, given the way they polarize the electorate. Note that of the five with the most positive scores, one is Italian American (Rudy Giuliani), two are black (Condoleezza Rice and Barack Obama), one is Jewish (Joe Lieberman), and one grew up as a military brat (John McCain). Ranked at the bottom were Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, perhaps inevitably given that their public posture has been that of attack dogs. Giuliani's and McCain's high ratings are not accidents, as I discuss in my U.S. News column this week. Usually we can only guess at how a presidential candidate will handle a crisis. But with Rudy, and to a lesser extent with McCain, we already know.