It's 2:00 a.m. on July 6, 2006 and I'm sitting here watching a real cliffhanger of a presidential election going on, much like we experienced in the States in 2000. People are beginning to protest the IFE where the votes are being recounted. The IFE is the Federal Elections Institute and it is the legal body that handles, impartially, the votes of the people. This arm of the government was formed in the 1990's in order to achieve truly democratic, clean voting.

At this moment, AMLO (Lopez Obrador, leftist) is leading by .02% over Calderon, whom people here in Baja CA want to win. This is exciting, being here, right now, in Mexico during this historic time.

Living in a baby democracy is a real trip. It's amazing to watch how careful the protocol is.

2:04 a.m. the difference is now at .01%, in favor of Lopez Obrador. All of my friends here have voted for Calderon. I personally hope he wins, he seems pretty pro-education. He is bilingual, which is good for a president to be. Lopez Obrador doesn't want to even know a single word of English. I don't even know if Bush knows English. Hmmmm. I wonder how a radical left-wing president of Mexico would get along with the right-wing Bush admin.?

2:06 a.m. 97.64% of all votes recounted, the same difference of .01% is still holding. So is my breath. To be an American, so accustomed to democracy, living in a country where democracy has only existed for 6 years is a real privilege.

2:08 a.m. Still the same numbers. Has it really been 6 years since we all went through this? It's weird having history repeat itself and living it all over again. Sort of...I mean, our American election in 2000 was quite a debacle. This one is exciting but tame, so far. But Lopez Obrador has vowed to fight if Calderon wins the recount, and with such a volatile party as his, anything can happen. I think they're still upset about what happened to them in 1988.

2:10 a.m. Still at .01%, 97.7% of the votes counted. The peso really fell before the July 2 election; this was good for those of us who earn our money in dollars. Then it went back up again when it appeared Calderon had won, then back down again when Lopez Obrador ordered a recount. Wow.

2:13 a.m. Nothing changing. Everything changing. In the land of "Don't worry, there is always tomorrow," people are worried. Everyone is worried about North Korea, but hey, we have an incredible history happening here in Mexico that is unprecedented. And it would appear that Mexico is just as divided as the U.S. is.

2:14 a.m. Calderon has edged ahead now, with a .03% lead. I bet Lopez Obrador is NOT sleeping, even though he left his headquarters hours ago and went home. Calderon is still at the PAN party headquarters. This is going to be quite an event; this is amazing, and you never know what will happen in Mexico. A court could overturn the votes, people could run rampant in the streets, God, who knows?

2:17 a.m. Calderon now has a .05% lead, with 97.84% of the votes recounted. The gap between Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and Calderon has been slowly closing for a couple of hours now. At one point Lopez Obrador was ahead by a full percentage point. Now the tables are turning. I wonder if the tide will?

2:20 a.m. I just did a spell check. Now I am going to check El Universal's site....still the same .05% in favor of Calderon. It was the same, in favor of AMLO, just two hours ago.

2:23 a.m. Still the same...do I dare go and get a snack? Yes. Be right back!!!

2:31 a.m. While I was in my kitchen making a tuna and avocado sandwich I was feeling the anxiety of "not knowing." You know, that feeling that if you do something biologically necessary like eat when you are hungry, you will miss something! Then I wondered, what good will it do me to know, RIGHT NOW, who is likely to be the next Mexican president? I can't vote and much of the world outside of Mexico doesn't really care. But here I am, waiting and watching. Oh, how we love to be "in the know" about things! And at this very moment, who am I telling''' I haven't published this blog yet!

2:34 a.m. Okay, okay. I'm going to check. Calderon is now ahead by .07%. A battle is going on right in front of me! No, not with people protesting...my 3 month old kitten Frodo wants my sandwich. He can't have it.

2:38 a.m. Calderon is now ahead by .08%. It was predicted that a recount wouldn't make a difference, that he would win anyway. I wonder what's going on in Mexico City right now? Since I don't have TV, I'll have to look it up online. Should I be paying attention to N. Korea? Nah. They are having a tantrum right now and I don't want to deal with that. This is much more exciting. But historically speaking, both a nuclear bomb and a Mexican election can kill people.

2:41 a.m. Calderon is now leading by .09% with 98.01% of the votes recounted. They must have gotten to the Baja CA ballot boxes, finally. In the past, it was Mexico City that decided who would be president. Actually, it was the president who decided who would be the next president. Then in 2000, 70 years of the PRI party rule was broken by President Fox. And now, that party didn't stand a chance in this election. There were 5 people running for president, including a woman. What used to be a major party fell into third place, what was a practically nonexistent party a few years ago shot into a dead heat with a party that got shot down in 1988 and not even looked at much in 2000. Very interesting stuff.

2:45 a.m. Typical. My friend asked me to call her and wake her up when Calderon got ahead. I did. Now she wants to sleep. Well, she does have to get up at stupid o'clock to go to work and I don't. But I really do want to sleep. Can this recount go on without me''' I don't think so!!!! And I'm sure YOU will want this blow by blow written not by a professional journalist or even someone who cares much for politics! I'm just a middle-aged lady living in Mexico.

2:48 a.m. Still the same, Calderon by .09% and I am trying to keep Frodo off the keyboard.

2:49 a.m. Oh my God, I turn my back for a few seconds and now Calderon is ahead by .11%!!!!! I would imagine that AMLO is either asleep or having a major explosion of temper right now. I wonder why this government doesn't want to educate its people so they can do more? Well, an education doesn't necessarily enable a person to do more, it just gives then a leg up and a huge debt in student loan repayments. Funny how one thinks at nearly 3:00 a.m.

2:53 a.m. Well, even Google News isn't this far ahead, it is still reporting that Lopez Obrador is ahead. Don't they know that this is HISTORY?

2:54 a.m. I wonder what would happen if I fell asleep right now? What would I miss'? I am American! NOTHING is more important than information!!!!!!!

D879265ghskhbg Oops, I fell asleep on my keyboard!!!!

2:55 a.m. Calderon is still at .11% ahead. The nerve. There could at least be a surge. It's been a full seven minutes and nothing has changed!

2:57 a.m. I am going to wait for three more minutes, then I am going to be sensible and go to bed.

3:00 a.m. Dare I go to bed''? Calderon's lead has now gone to .13%. They have surely reached the Baja boxes now. I wonder if they did that on purpose, since Mexicans do enjoy a good drama. I bet the IFE left the northern Mexico and Baja CA and Guadalajara boxes until last. But according to what I am reading, the IFE will not stop until it has counted every single vote! It took the U.S. a full three months to do that! Here there were over 40 million votes to be counted.

3:04 a.m. I'm still up. I wonder if I am still awake. The cats have now decided that it's time to go crazy. Maybe I should stay up a bit longer. By the way, one of my cats, Princess, is Mexican. She was a street cat who followed me home from the corner market one evening, insisting that she was moving in. After a full month, with Princess outside waiting patiently, I let her move in. She's a darling. She's almost 2 years old now. Frodo came from the U.S., my adopted sister Connie (you can see her in my earlier blogs) brought him down for me. Since my beloved 14 year old cat Merlin died just before my first Christmas here, I have waited for a year and a half to have another black male cat. Connie's cat had 5 kittens, 3 of them black males, and I asked for the one with green eyes. They brought him down from Chula Vista for me almost 3 weeks ago. I named him Frodo and I love him to pieces. So does Princess, even though he really bugs her sometimes.

3:09 a.m. Okay, it's still .13% in favor of Calderon. And I'm an idiot sitting here in the dark writing this when the pro's are probably blogging their big-word hearts out, citing all kinds of interesting facts about Mexican elections, etc. I honor your intelligence. If you really want to know, you can look it up on Google just like the pros do. Or Wikipedia. I don't want to repeat other people's stuff.

3:12 a.m. The cats are racing around my little 2 story apartment. They're having a great time.

3:16 a.m. Calderon is now ahead .15% I think I've been on a big enough roller coaster. The situation could turn at any time, but I don't think it will.

3:19 a.m. I just spent the last three minutes doing time management. I reset my watch because I'd set it 12 hours slow when we changed to daylight savings time. Then I looked for a pen so I could cross Wednesday, July 5 off on my calendar. If you are now bored reading this, it's time for me to post this and go to sleep. The breaking news of who ultimately won will have to be left to someone else. Calderon still has his .15% lead.

Space shuttle Discovery has no injuries.
North Korea is making everyone mad.
Bush is stressed.
The World Cup has more attention than any of the above.
Goodnight, Chet (ha ha, if you're not a Boomer you won't even know what that means!)