Mexican Candidates Set Date for 2nd Debate
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MEXICO CITY — Mexican presidential contender Vicente Fox said Wednesday that he will attend a potentially pivotal TV debate Friday, laying to rest days of wrangling over the date and format for a final public encounter between the candidates before the July 2 vote.
Fox, who has mounted a strong challenge to the candidate of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, had suggested Tuesday that he would not attend the event agreed upon by his two main rivals because he would be campaigning.
He justified his reversal by saying that Mexicans had asked for his participation. He had previously said he would debate only on Tuesday, the original date.
The move means that Mexicans will see a final face-off among the three top candidates: Fox of the center-right National Action Party, or PAN; the PRI’s Francisco Labastida; and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD.
The debate is seen as pivotal in part because it could alter the dead heat in which Labastida and Fox are now locked. Nearly all polls show just a handful of percentage points separating the two.
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