Timeline of Fox's Rise to Power

A chronology of events during the campaign and after the election of Mexican President Vicente Fox:

Dec. 11, 1998: Fox, governor of Guanajuato state, announces an unprecedentedly early entry into the 2000 presidential race, more than a year and a half before the election.

April 1999: Fox meets with leaders of his center-right National Action Party to win over skeptics who feel he is campaigning outside the conservative, pro-business party.

Sept. 12., 1999: Fox, the only remaining candidate after overwhelming challengers, is nominated by his party.

April 25, 2000: First presidential debate. Opinion polls and editorials are nearly unanimous in declaring Fox the winner.

May 11, 2000: Major poll for the first time shows Fox surging ahead in the race. A second poll 10 days later shows Fox with an eight-point lead.

May 23, 2000: In what came to be known as "Black Tuesday," Fox receives major black eye after televised squabble with other candidates over details of a second debate.

May 26, 2000: Fox appears to recover his footing in the second debate.

July 2, 2000: Fox wins election, stunning Mexico and the world by unseating the party that had ruled for 71 years.

July 2000: Fox invites leader of leftist rebels in Chiapas state to restart peace talks; still no response.

Aug. 3, 2000: Militant legislators of Fox's party vote to outlaw abortions for rape victims, reviving fears that the Roman Catholic church might look for power in Fox's administration.

Aug. 7, 2000: President-elect goes to South America, the first trip in a globe-trotting effort to boost trade across the world. He later travels to the United States and Canada and through the European Union.

Aug. 13, 2000: Mexican newspaper discovers children as young as 14 picking vegetables at the Fox family ranch in violation of child labor laws.

Aug. 17, 2000: Fox presents a detailed proposal on gradually opening the border with the United States and forming a common market with the United States and Canada.

Oct. 23, 2000: Fox announces plan to extend a 15-percent value-added tax to food and medicine, provoking a backlash from critics who say he is insensitive to the poor.

Nov. 22, 2000: After months of delay, Fox begins announcing Cabinet, a group dominated by conservative businessmen.

Dec. 1, 2000: Fox inaugurated as Mexico's 62nd president.