Calderón in the Campaign

Jorge Buendía wades into the question of Calderón's participation in the upcoming elections by noting that he is the best card the PAN has to play. (The president is subject to restrictions on his campaigning, which are conceptually misguided and, partially as a consequence, poorly enforced.) While the PAN's voter support stands at somewhere between 25 and 40 percent, two thirds of the electorate approves of Calderón's performance. There is no other PAN figure who has anything approaching that resovoire of support or the president's high profile.  

However, I'm not sure that translates into votes for the PAN (nor did Buendía seem to be saying that it would, merely that it could). Fifty-six percent of the electorate thinks the country is on the wrong track, and the PAN is more likely that any other party to pay a penalty for that. The question is whether the support for Calderón or the nation's feeling that things aren't going well will have a greater bearing on voters' selections. Based on the polls, it seems like the latter will factor is weighing more heavily now.