Clouthier launched his presidential candidacy in 1987 with PAN and was nominated by the party in November 1987, with 70% of the delegate vote. During his campaign, he toured Mexico with mobile home, with his wife and several of his children. Clouthier was an effective campaigner and his rallies drew large and enthusiastic crowds. As a stump speaker, he relied on a stock of earthy stories, puns, jokes, anecdotes and analogies to get his points across. Ending PRI's dominance on the country's politics became Clouthier's main campaign theme, which also includes calls for greater personal freedom, less interference from the central government in Mexico City and an end to federal monopolies such as the printing of public school textbooks. He had appeal to traditional Catholics in the county. His candidacy was classified as be a new kind of right-wing population or new right for Mexico, distinguishing it from that of the Cristeros and Mexico anticommunists, with a broader message. It was not capitalist, more in line with the socialism of then West Germany.