Mexico is grappling with the same electoral issues the U.S. faced in 2000 and 2004. Claims of a stolen election were squashed Tuesday by a Mexican tribunal who named conservative Felipe Calderon president after two months of speculation and unrest.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the battle for Mexico is far from over.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is continuing his quest for revolution and promises to set up a shadow government aimed at toppling Calderon.

Lopez Obrador’s tactics–which include plopping tent cities, full of his supporters, in the middle of Mexico City’s clogged thoroughfares–have won him at least as many enemies as friends. As long as the tenacious former mayor of Mexico City is around, many Mexicans are convinced, Calderon is virtually ensured of a messy, miserable term.

Somehow, I can’t imagine Al Gore doing the same in the streets of Washington, DC. Not that Gore isn’t man enough, rather the disparity between our rich and our poor, while disgraceful, is not nearly as dramatic as the gulph that exists in Mexico.

Lopez Obrador, nicknamed El Peje after a gar-like fish found in his native Tabasco state, is unapologetic, saying Mexico needs “a radical transformation.”

Most Mexicans live in extreme poverty despite the country’s immense natural resources, he told his followers this week. And it’s urgent that they establish a “new republic,” he said.