Chuchos Key to the Budget

Leo Zuckermann runs the numbers on the Chamber of Deputies, which is the only house that has to pass the budget spending bill, and notices something that could be extremely important here in a few weeks: Jesús Ortega's band, should it choose to side with Calderón, could be the difference between a PRI-led opposition passage of the budget over the president's veto, which would be rather embarrassing for the man in Los Pinos. Of course, this presupposes that the PRI won't be willing to negotiate a final solution with Calderón, which may not wind up being the case.