Election madness

The English care A LOT about the U.S. presidential election! And, for that matter, so do my fellow expat Australian and Canadian friends.

In case you thought the rest of the world wasn't interested in our politics, I'm here to set you straight. For the past 13 months I have been constantly questioned about the American presidential race, about my personal views on the candidates, and even about the complicated intricacies of the electoral college system. This has only increased in frequency during the past few weeks, to the point that I am asked every day if I've voted and who I'm voting for.

I give honest and weighted answers to these questions. Brits find it particularly astounding that I've met both McCain and Obama (comes with the journalistic territory) and have long familiarity with the policies of each candidate, since I lived for years in both Arizona and Illinois. I must be honest, though, and admit that when one friend sat me in a corner at a party and questioned me at length about exactly how the electoral college works and how the popular vote factors in, I didn't have all of the answers. It was a little embarrassing--I thought I was well versed in government, but his questions drove me to do some research.

I was amazed to discover that the actual votes for president aren't cast by the electoral college until the Wednesday following the second Monday in December. I suppose that was because of the vote-gathering/travel difficulty considerations in early America, but I didn't know that. Did you? Learn more about the electoral college in this handy little article here.

It's probably worth mentioning that pretty much all the Nottinghamites I know--and the afore-mentioned Australians, Canadians and other Europeans I've come in contact with--are desperate to see a President Obama.