Mexican Female Candidate Tries to Mount a Comeback On a campaign swing through the heart of her political stronghold, the first serious female contender for Mexico's presidency didn't fill a town square or the tables at a business luncheon. After stumbling early in her campaign, Josefina Vazquez Mota is trying to mount a comeback but isn't drawing the crowds or the energy that marked her nomination in February as the first woman to lead a major party in presidential elections. Her rival, Enrique Pena Nieto, has built a double-digit lead in the polls ahead of the July 1 vote, more than 20-percentage points in some. In a downtown plaza in the city of Leon over the weekend, the cameras could easily spot the empty spaces. Signs and shirts for gubernatorial candidate Miguel Marquez, who also appeared, outnumbered those for Vazquez Mota. Her party, the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, has yet to recover from the divisive primary that Vazquez Mota won over the candidate of President Felipe Calderon and the party establishment. Her initial events after the campaign officially started two weeks ago were marked by poor planning, small crowds, or disruptive hecklers. Despite a reorganization last week, it's still not clear where the campaign is going, newspaper columnist Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez said Monday. Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate for the National Action Party (PAN), center, delivers a speech during a campaign stop in Guadalajara, Mexico, Sunday April 15, 2012. On a campaign swing through the heart of her political stronghold, Vazquez Mota, the first serious female contender for Mexico's presidency, didn't fill a town square or even the tables of a business luncheon. (AP Photo/Bruno Gonzalez) Close "There have been mistakes that reveal a lack of professionalism in her inner circle," said Silva-Herzog, a law professor at the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology. Despite the attempt to show unity within the PAN, the wound of the internal election has yet to heal. Vazquez Mota disagrees, telling The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that the remaining 2½ months is enough time to narrow the gap with Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. "Not only do I have time, we're going to win," she said during a campaign stop in Guadalajara, one of two in the heart of her conservative PAN party's base. The PRI is trying to return to power after ruling Mexico for 71 years, then losing the presidency to the PAN in 2000. With left-leaning candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador running third, Vazquez Mota is considered the strongest candidate to block the return of the long-ruling party. But the 51-year-old former education secretary is fighting voter weariness with 12 years of PAN governments. A February poll showed that only a third of Mexicans think the country is going in the right direction under Calderon, who can't run for re-election. Eighty percent think the economy and security have gotten worse. Vazquez Mota said she will do more town halls and smaller events as part of a new strategy to target undecided voters. She said her early campaign problems, including a canceled rally, a dizzy spell from low blood pressure and a misspoken promise to "strengthen money laundering," were overblown by the press. "This has been a week for changing the campaign scheme," she said, "to take the dialogue directly to the people." Vazquez Mota said Sunday that she prefers to travel with a small entourage and leave her strategists in Mexico City. She is also content to depend on local party people to turn out the crowds at her events. That contrasts with Pena Nieto's carefully choreographed events, where handlers don't leave any detail to chance. Everyone has their own campaign style. They have to do their own thing," she said of the PRI. I'm well covered by the local party leaders.