By Lizbeth Diaz

TIJUANA, Mexico, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A gaming billionaire who wears a crocodile-skin vest, owns a private zoo and is accused of links to drug cartels might win the governorship this weekend of a Mexican state bordering California.

Jorge Hank, the father of 19 children who once referred to women as his favorite animals, is running on Sunday for governor in Baja California state, one of the main entry points for South American cocaine into the United States.

An election victory for Hank, whose former chief bodyguard is a convicted murderer, could spell trouble for Mexican President Felipe Calderon's military-backed campaign to quash drug cartels and raise eyebrows north of the border.

Former state governor Ernesto Ruffo, a member of Calderon's ruling National Action Party, or PAN, said Hank's campaign had been funded by drug gangs.

"Money from the mafia could define who is the next state governor and in turn open the doors to organized crime," Ruffo said.

The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center accused Hank of using his betting business to launder drug money in a 1999 report that was leaked to the media but later discredited by then attorney-general Janet Reno.

Hank, 51, was fined $25,000 in 1991 for trying to smuggle a tiger cub from the United States to Mexico but has never been convicted of a crime in Mexico. He says the drug accusations are an attempt to discredit him.

Hank is running for the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000 and earned a reputation for corruption and authoritarianism. His father was a rich PRI boss.

WOMEN INSULT

During his successful campaign for Tijuana mayor in 2004, Hank opened up his private zoo that includes thousands of giraffes, tigers, monkeys and cats from Egypt, to children to win support.

Asked by a Mexican reporter that year what his favorite animal was, Hank replied: "A woman."

Three wives and a girlfriend have given him his brood of 19 children. His third wife is often with him when he campaigns.

Hank, who often drives a black Rolls Royce on campaign stops -- one of his 30 cars -- is short of policies but big on personality. His rallies have a party-like atmosphere, where he has hired some of Mexico's top norteno music bands to attract big crowds.

At one rally, he gave away free watches, food, drinks and T-shirts.

"I see Jorge Hank as the Robin Hood of Baja California -- he takes from the rich and gives to the poor," said Hector Larios, a teacher in Tijuana.

Polls predict a very tight race between Hank and his main challenger, conservative Jose Guadalupe Osuna, also a former Tijuana major and state lawmaker from the PAN.

The conservative PAN has run Baja California for 18 years but has been unable to cut crime, poverty and drug trafficking.

Hank has promised to put more security cameras around state cities like Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada. He also pledges to better arm local police in a state where more than 200 people have died in drug-related killings so far this year.

Nationally, around 1,400 people have died in a fight between drug gangs despite army operations against the traffickers.

Hank plans to turn the run-down port city of Ensenada into "the Cancun of the Pacific" in reference to Mexico's Caribbean beach resort popular with U.S. tourists.

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