The GOP in Mexico: A silent minority?

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SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico — Even if they are outnumbered 10-to-1 by Democrats, close to 1,000 Republican-leaning American expatriates are believed to live in this picturesque Colonial-era city.

Try finding one.

As the race for the U.S. presidency nears its conclusion, the oft-outspoken Democratic majority has pushed the Republican minority underground.

Republicans Abroad, a local nonprofit organization, hasn't run an ad in the local expat newspaper for six months — at the height of voter registration drives. A local offshoot group left out the R-word from its name. Many supporters here of Republican candidate John McCain prefer to call themselves “independents.”

That's if they're willing to talk politics at all.

“They're not that few,” said Brad Fowler, 47, an artist originally from Austin who says he's an independent backing McCain. “They just don't open their mouths.”

They may be afraid of the consequences.

Pierre Nel, a retired industrial scientist, said Republicans sometimes bear the brunt of inappropriate comments and are ostracized from the social scene.

“Some of them don't even tell their neighbors they are Republicans,” said Nel at an afternoon meeting with a group called Conservative Friends.

It wasn't always like this. Democrats and Republicans in Mexican expat communities never liked the other's politics, but they used to get along.

Widely seen as the underlying cause of discontent is President Bush, a self-styled “uniter” widely viewed abroad as one of the most divisive U.S. presidents in recent history, largely because of the Iraq war.

“I have a lot of friends who are Republicans from Texas, and we don't talk,” said Stewart Solle, 60, a retired real estate developer from California who has lived in San Miguel since 2001. “That's what eight years of Bush has done to the local community.”

U.S. presidential elections generally spark intensive drives by Republicans and Democrats to register people to vote from abroad. The drives are ostensibly non-partisan but tend to attract sympathizers of the party giving the assistance.

Both Democrats Abroad, which is the overseas branch of the party, and Republicans Abroad claim to have signed up thousands in Mexico in recent months. But neither would give specific numbers, so it is impossible to know which party helped register more voters.

In terms of campaign activity, Democrats won hands down in San Miguel, which has one of the largest expat communities in Mexico. While Republicans were relegated to near anonymity, local Democrat supporters printed shirts and held an event that, they said, raised $18,000 for Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

McCain visited Mexico City in July, but past campaigns have seen more Republican campaign activity south of the border.

Cynthia Dillon, the Washington-based executive director of Republicans Abroad, pointed to the volunteer nature of the organization as a reason for seeing less activity in Mexico this year.

Republicans Abroad focuses on the business community of Americans in Mexico.

“I always tell people Republicans work,” Dillon said. “People are more low-key... But that doesn't necessarily mean that because they are not out there, we're not so in tune or we're not communicating.”

For all their differences, Obama and McCain supporters in San Miguel have a lot in common.

Generally, they both participate in local charitable causes and are patrons of the arts. They are sympathetic to Mexico's problems and feel the next president needs to pay more attention to Mexico. They want a solution to the unauthorized immigration problem.

The older retirees are concerned about Medicare.

But like voters everywhere, their top concern is the economy.

“It's pretty bad, and we've all gotten some kind of hurt from it,” said Herb Tolpen, 79, an active Democrat in San Miguel originally from Ohio. “It's to the place where it's causing me and some other people to start going into our capital.”

But mostly, people here seem ready for a change.

Fowler said he expected Obama to do “a hell of a job” if he gets elected.

“Either one will be better than Bush,” he said.