To the Point

An Overseas View of the American Presidential Election

Swing states, the Electoral College and "activating the base" have become hot topics of conversation all over the world, as this year's presidential election has sparked international interest as never before. A liberal British newspaper is urging that readers write to undeclared voters in Clark County, Ohio, urging them to vote for John Kerry. Angry responses suggest that the campaign might backfire, but it's a measure of worldwide interest in American politics. One historian calls it "a world election in which the world has no vote." Recent polls show two-thirds of Western Europeans opposed to George Bush, while leaders of Eastern Europe support him. So do Israelis, while Arabs don't like Bush and aren't sure about Kerry. We sample opinions from Eastern and Western Europe, Israel and the Middle East about a US election with far-reaching international consequences. Making News: Care International's Margaret Hassan Pleads for Life The kidnapped Director of Care International in Iraq has appeared on videotape pleading with Tony Blair not to let her die. A weeping Margaret Hassan is begging Britain's Prime Minister not to re-deploy troops to the Baghdad area. Charles Sennot, who's in London for the Boston Globe, reports on the media's circumspect coverage of this kidnapping, and on Blair's most recent political crisis. Reporter's Notebook: Bush Supporters Still Believe Iraq Had WMD Evidence is now clear--and President Bush has admitted--that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction when the US invaded last year, but a recent poll shows that 72% of the President's supporters think Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction or a program to make them. Steven Kull, principal investigator for the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, expounds on what pollsters call "Bush supporters' resistance to information."