MEXICAN POLITICIANS STUMP IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS COURTING EMIGRANTS.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Two of Mexico's presidential candidates are stumping California this week courting the support of Mexican-Americans like Vicente Jimenez, a Reseda mechanic originally from Jalisco, Mexico, who supports Mexican candidate Vicente Fox.

``I've been in this country for only a few years, so I watch the news in Spanish and follow the situation in Mexico more than the politics here,'' Jimenez said Monday. ``I might go down to vote myself. The PRI is like a dictatorship, and all of Mexico needs a change.''

Fox and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, running in third place in recent Mexican polls, are betting that an estimated 2.5 million adult Mexican nationals in California share their belief that it is time for change and can be counted on to support their opposition party bids - by influencing voting relatives in Mexico or by returning long enough to cast their own ballots.

Cardenas told reporters at a Beverly Hills news conference Monday that the U.S. Mexican immigrant population, estimated at about 8 million throughout the nation, is a priority to the candidates.

``We've made a strong commitment to address the issues of poverty and human rights that affect Mexicans on both sides of the border,'' said Cardenas of the left-of-center Democratic Revolution Party. Fox, of the more conservative National Action Party, was in Sacramento addressing the state Legislature.

Each hopes to beat Francisco Labastida of the Institutional Revolution Party, the ruling PRI, which has dominated Mexican politics and the presidency since 1929.

In the 1988 elections, Cardenas had a strong lead in the polls over rival Carlos Salinas de Gortari of the PRI. But during the vote count, the computer systems mysteriously went down, and Salinas de Gortari won handily.

Allegations of foul play led to the implementation of an independent agency known as the Federal Elections Institution, which now controls the voting process.

While Mexican nationals in the United States can vote, they must do so at polling places in Mexico. The Mexican government does not let them do so by absentee ballots.

Cardenas has vowed to renew last year's failed effort to enact legislation allowing Mexicans to vote by mail from abroad. Fox has also voiced his support of such a law.

In the meantime, both Fox and Cardenas are spending three days in California wooing potential voters.

Benito Orejel, a butcher from Canoga Park, said he still doesn't believe in the integrity of the balloting process.

``The political environment in Mexico right now is ripe for change,'' he said. ``I support Cardenas, but I don't know if I would travel to Mexico to vote because they might just throw my vote out.''

Even those who don't closely follow politics are familiar with the candidates' names and feel strongly that a change is needed.

``I've been living here since I was 5, so I'm more interested in the U.S. elections,'' said Sergio Garcia of Winnetka. ``But everyone knows how corrupt the system is in Mexico, and maybe Fox or Cardenas can change that.''

That Fox and Cardenas are even campaigning in the United States is a sign of change.

The Mexican government estimates that Mexicans receive $6 billion annually from U.S. family members, making them the third-largest source of the country's import revenues.

``The voice of Mexicans in the United States is a powerful force in Mexico,'' said Cardenas, the former mayor of Mexico City.

Ben Garza, a Cardenas supporter and organizer based in California, is in one of several groups organizing a caravan to Tijuana for those wishing to participate in the July 2 elections.

``We send billions of dollars to relatives in Mexico, in some cases supporting the economies of entire towns,'' Garza said. ``For those who can't make it down to vote, we're going to ask them to call their relatives in Mexico, and I'm sure they'll have a strong say in the elections.''