Mexico dodged a bullet on July 2nd and, in so doing, the United States dodged one as well.

Mexico’s new President-elect, Felipe Calderón, 42, a Harvard graduate (conservative, former energy minister, backed by business) beat Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the hugely-Leftist former mayor of Mexico City.

The entire business now seems to encompass a North American trend, as evidenced by George Bush, Paul Martin and now Calderón — of a close conservative win against liberal opponents and those elections subsequently to be or actually challenged in courts of law.

Surely, the minions of Obrador are flapping their gums about lawsuits though they shall likely fall completely on their faces.

In the meantime, with Calderón, there now exists a possibility to forge a link on any number of levels with Mexico and perhaps even acquire some forward movement inside our southern neighbor which may mitigate the necessity for Mexican nationals to feel compelled to violate our border and our laws.

Meaning: solidify Mexico, help to makes its economy and its government strong, fresh and clean, and you help Mexicans stay in and focus on their own nation.

In the fight against illegal immigrants, Calderón could be the ally that Fox never was.

Calderón won the vote recount on July 6th — a recount demanded by opponent Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who then, predictably, vowed to take the fight to the courts when he didn’t win. After all, he learned from the best: GEORGE W. BUSH, et al., PETITIONERS v.ALBERT GORE, Jr., et al. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT. This process could, like any other legal machination, take literally weeks to sift out.

Calderon, who pledges to stick with President Vicente Fox’s pro-business policies, took 35.88 percent of the vote to Lopez Obrador’s 35.31 percent, after electoral authorities completed the recount. Calderon, 43, led Lopez Obrador by about 1 percentage point in a preliminary tally released the day after the July 2 election.

Despite the clear love of he and his policies by the wondrous Berserkeley resident Cindy Sheehan and some others, it would not do the United States nor Mexico well to have another Hugo Chavez of Venezuela sitting in Mexico City.

Obrador, if he ultimately “wins,” could well be another Chavez.

An interesting viewpoint from within Venezuela itself about the fabulous Mr. Chavez:

Belafonte and Sheehan love Chávez, not Venezuela
By Gustavo Coronel
July 9, 2006 As a senior Venezuelan I have seen my country and my people living in much better times than today. Therefore, I feel sad when I listen to the likes of Cindy Sheehan and Harry Belafonte speak of their love for Hugo Chávez. On the July 5 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, guest host and MSNBC White House correspondent Norah O’Donnell interviewed Cindy Sheehan. Sheehan said that “Hugo Chávez in not anti-American” and that she’d rather live under Chávez than Bush. Sheehan cites the aid of Chávez to New Orleans’ Katrina victims and the oil subsidies to the U.S. “poor” as examples of Chávez humanity. She was in Venezuela back in January where she kissed Chávez and appeared totally under his spell. In her enthusiasm, she mentioned on Hardball that Chávez had already been elected eight times. In fact, he was elected in 1999 and re-elected two years later (comfortably running against his partner in the failed 1992 coup d’état, Francisco Arias Cárdenas, now Ambassador to the U.N.) and survived a controversial presidential recall referendum in 2004, validated by Jimmy Carter but denounced as fraudulent by millions of Venezuelans. >>

This is just a hint of an insight into a life with Mexico should Obrador prevail.

It is not a situation we would enjoy at all.

A new chance has been handed us; I recommend we take full advantage of the situation now.

BZ