(Recasts with Calderon on U.S. relations, election) By Mary Milliken LOS ANGELES, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Thursday his country has a "singular opportunity" to improve its ties with the United States when the next president and Congress take over in January 2009. On the final day of a five-city U.S. visit that skipped Washington, Calderon told reporters in Los Angeles he is looking for a "more constructive and positive relation with more co-responsibility" in resolving thorny issues like illegal Mexican immigration and construction of a border wall. "I am not saying that we have had a bad or inadequate relation with President Bush," Calderon said. "On the contrary, I recognize his efforts and willingness to resolve problems." "But I think that the renovation of the U.S. government represents a singular opportunity to improve our relations." On his maiden U.S. visit as Mexico's president, the conservative Calderon has raised concerns about growing anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican sentiment. Illegal immigration remains a divisive issue in the U.S. election, although its importance has faded as concerns about the weak economy grow. On Wednesday, he drove home that disappointment to both California lawmakers and to the Mexican community in Los Angeles, the most Mexican of the big U.S. cities. But on Thursday, he said the more radical views against immigration appear to losing in the U.S. presidential campaign, now dominated by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barrack Obama for the Democrats and by Sen. John McCain for the Republicans. McCain, a senator from the border state of Arizona, has a record of trying to give more immigrants legal status, while some of his contenders have tried to woo voters with hardline stances on immigration and enforcement. "I respect the decisions that Americans take," Calderon said. "But I celebrate that the most radical and least rational voices on issues like immigration are not in the final part of the parties' selection process." Calderon said that out of respect for the U.S. electoral process, his government has not had contact with the teams of the various candidates. But he is optimistic that they bode well for U.S.-Mexican relations. 'DON'T GIVE UP' Calderon used his visit to Los Angeles, where half the population is Hispanic and most of those are Mexican, to try to address criticism that the Mexican government has failed to help its millions of citizens working in the United States. He promised to start a new era of relations between his government and Mexican migrants and to open the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles seven days a week to meet demand for documents and support in legal and labor problems. California is home to about a quarter of the estimated 12 million immigrants working illegally in the United States, whose hopes of obtaining legal status were dashed last year by Congress' failure to overhaul immigration laws. Calderon said he would fight on two fronts: to show the United States that Mexican labor is a pillar of economic prosperity in the United States, and create jobs at home so Mexicans don't have to head north "We need to generate the conditions for work, opportunity and a dignified life so that these people never, ever have to leave," Calderon said. "We don't want to be a country that expels its people. But Calderon told the Mexicans assembled late Wednesday to persevere in the United States. "In Mexico, we miss you and think about you a lot," Calderon said. "You work hard for this country and help Mexico at the same time. Don't give up." (Editing by Robin Emmott and Eric Walsh)
Mexico President Felipe Calderon tastes red wine with his wife, Margarita Zavala, during a visit to the Robledo Family Winery near Sonoma, California February 13, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES) ...
