Reporters on the Job

• It's All in the Faces: What struck staff writer Sara Miller Llana as she watched Mexico's election standoff unfold was the change in atmosphere from the final rally before the election by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, to the first major rally after the results came in. "People keep talking about the deep polarization of the country and the fear of violence ensuing," Sara says. "But just walking around my neighborhood in Mexico City, to the grocery store or cafes, you don't see or hear any of that tension."

Still, she says, the anger and defiance of the Obrador supporters is palpable. "Before the results came in, people were jubilantly holding up signs in support of their candidate; by last Saturday (the first of the protest rallies) people were defiantly holding up signs alleging fraud, lies, and manipulation. The looks on their faces had changed completely. I don't necessarily think any violence is going to ensue - as one analyst put it, mass demonstrations to Mexicans are like apple pie to Americans – but I'm curious to see how big the next rally in the Zocalo, planned for Sunday, becomes, and how Calderon's supporters will eventually react."

Amelia Newcomb
Deputy world editor