Peña Nieto's Play

Jorge Fernández Menéndez on what the designation of Eruviel Ávila means for Enrique Peña Nieto:

We mentioned many times that as important as the designation of the candidate was the message Peña would send to the priístas with it. Choosing Alfredo del Mazo, in these circumstances, would have privileged the political and familial relationships above the party and even above the real potential to win the election. Enrique Peña Nieto did not screw up and decided to choose the candidate that has the greatest chance of winning, the one who with his designation removes the possibility of an opposition alliance and who is rewarded for his career and political work...

Whether or not you like Eruviel's candidacy...what's true is that it follows the path that carried, thanks to Peña's efforts, Humberto Moreira to the presidency of the party, or Roberto Sandoval to be the candidate of the PRI in Nayarit: they are the ones that work with the people, that win elections, that don't belong to the traditional groups. And, in the three cases, those who permit a broad alliance with distinct forces, such as the groups slightly to the left of the PRI, such as the teachers of Elba Esther Gordillo, whose alliance with Peña Nieto and with that sector of the PRI is undeniable. Once again, whether or not you like Gordillo's support for these leaders and candidates, what's true is that this cohort of voters will be as important for the PRI in these elections and in 2012 as it was for the opposition to win, above all in Puebla and Oaxaca. And that support Del Mazo would not have received, for example.

I think that Peña Nieto, on occasions underestimated by his adversaries, is making a very important bet for his future: from this moment building, with these and other politicians, some of them candidates and others already in power, as with others who will be leaving office shortly, his true base of support, his political group, beyond the priísmo of Mexico State. In recent decades, the only person to carry out this task with success was Carlos Salinas de Gortari...

That comparison is more than a bit scary, although from the standpoint of being able to enact an agenda, a touch of Salinas in Los Pinos could be helpful.

Other points: I'm not sure right-left is the best way to consider Gordillo's group. And it remains striking how little fuss was made about the absence of a primary. Lastly, is it becoming normal to call him just "Peña", or is Fernández breaking stylistic ranks?