Vicent Fox Quesada (2000-?)

He rose from route driver to head of Coca-Cola for Mexico and Central America in 15-year career.

Fox entered politics only in 1987. In 1991, he lost a fraud-marred gubernatorial election that made him a national political figure. When Congress modified the constitution in 1993 to let the children of foreign-born parents seek the presidency, pundits called it the "Fox law.'' Fox's mother was born in Spain.

A devout Catholic, Ms. Quesada is said to attend church almost every day, and never misses a Sunday Mass. She was born in Spain and came to Mexico as a child. Fox's opponents had tried to use that to make him ineligible to run for Guanajuato governor, saying he wasn't Mexican enough.

Fox had been hinting at a run for the presidency since 1993, even before he was elected governor of the small but populous state of Guanajuato in 1995. Since formally announcing his candidacy in 1997, he has spent weekends traveling around the country, building a giant "Friends of Fox'' support network and raising millions of dollars.

He launched a massive advertising campaign on radio, television and billboards. While Fox was considered an outsider in his National Action Party, by the time the party chose its presidential nominee last year no one would dare challenge him.

During his campaign, he tailored his message to his audience. To poor farmers, he projected himself as the local boy who was raised on a ranch and still wore cowboy boots. For business executives, he highlighted his experience as Coca-Cola's regional president.

For all, he declared himself as the only hope of ending the PRI's control of the presidency.

On issues, there weren't giant differences with the PRI's candidate. Both pledged to fight crime and corruption, improve education and make sure that Mexico's poor see the benefits of improvements in economy.

But in style, they had little in common. Labastida is slight and gaunt, a soft-spoken gentleman with little charisma. Fox is tall and rugged, with a booming voice and brash personality who doesn't hesitate to speak his mind -- sometimes in the crudest terms.

That brashness helped make him a national figure -- and both caused and carried him through political crises.

But it's also a reason he couldn't galvanize the full anti-PRI support. Last year, Mexico's opposition parties tried to form an alliance for the presidential race. The talks failed because of the clashing personalities and ideologies of Fox and the candidate from the other major opposition party: Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party.

In the election, Fox needed to cut into Cardenas' support -- which polls say is about 16 percent of the vote -- yet Cardenas remained disdainful of Fox.

And indeed Fox did just that and more, to obtain the unexpected victory that ended the PRI's 71-year monopoly on the presidency.