Mexico’s presidential front-runner walks a thin, tense line in following outgoing populist

By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As she runs to replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Claudia Sheinbaum is struggling to construct her own image, leaving many wondering whether she can escape the shadow of the larger-than-life incumbent. It’s tough: What she’s come up with so far is a single graphic image (her trademark straightened ponytail, in profile), and a couple of slogans: the uninspiring “Es Claudia (It’s Claudia)” and the somewhat catchier “Es Tiempo de Mujeres” (Now is the Time of Women). That’s a reference to the fact that whether she or opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez wins, Mexico will get its first female president in June.