"Democrats are really, really energised. This organisation has more than doubled in size in the past twelve months"
Rachel Valladeres, Chairwoman, Democrats abroad
Democrats Abroad is the official organisation for expatriate American registered voters of the Democratic Party of the U.S.A. . The organisation counts as America's 51st state at the Democrat Convention in July 2004 and will send 9 votes for the election of the presidential candidate, representing 7 million Americans living outside the US. That might not be as much as the 154 from Michigan but still puts them on levelpegging with Alaska. Caucuses are held all over the world in currently 40 nations, from Armenia to Singapore, from Malawi to Cameroon.
According to a recent article in the Independent, support for the democratic cause between Americans living abroad has exploded since George Bush's coup into the White House, as expatriates are now more often exposed to anti-Americanism than under the multi-lateral Clinton administration and angry about the image that the Bush power clique has brought on the U.S. This seems to be congruent with the turnout of voters in the U.S. itself, as caucuses have been shown to be visited by twice as many angry democrats as the years before, trying to get rid of the most polarising president of recent years.
The latest strawpoll (10.2.04) shows expatriates firmly behind John Kerry with 55%, followed by Howard Dean with 19% and Wesley Clark at 10%.
For all those Americans living abroad I can only wish them a Democrat winning the presidential elections, as another four years of George W. Bush in the White House would make their lives even more miserable.
Sources: The Independent, 11.2.04, pp 20-21 ; http://www.democratsabroad.org