Demagogue

As tense as it got in November and early December of 2000, as the Gore-Bush election outcome remained up in the air, it never got this bad:

Opposition lawmakers threw punches and chairs and tried to block the doors of the congressional chamber Friday just an hour before incoming President Felipe Calderon was to take the oath of office there.

Ruling party lawmakers, chanting "Mexico wants peace," seized the speaker's platform where Calderon was supposed to appear, while leftist opponents blocked most of the chamber's doors.

The brawl was shown on live television across Mexico.

Mexico's Constitution calls for Calderon to take the oath of office before Congress, and the leftists argued that he cannot become president without that formality.

Democratic Revolution Senate leader Carlos Navarette said his party would do everything it could to keep Calderon out. "We'll see if he can get in," Navarette said, adding: "If he does take office, it will be at his own risk."