Cancun Mayor Still Running for Governor—From Jail Cell

Cancun mayor Gregorio Sanchez is determined to stay on the ballot—even if it means running for governor from jail. That's exactly where he sits these days, some 1,000 miles away from the resort city he has governed, after being arrested two weeks ago over alleged ties to two drug cartels. It's created an atmosphere that the Wall Street Journal calls "surreal," with Cancun covered in billboards proclaiming "Greg is With You!"

Sanchez dismisses the charges as "a political lynching," and, indeed, they aren't likely to shock voters: Five of Cancun's seven past mayors have been embroiled in corruption scandals. His lawyers are appealing a judge's decision that bars him from running. "The evidence is very circumstantial," says one of his lawyers. "Just because he was arrested does not make him guilty, nor does it take away his right to run for office." And should he win while in prison, "that would be a new legal situation, even for Mexico," he notes. (More Gregorio Sanchez stories.)