From today’s Independent:

Even The Rich Are Revolting As Republicans Abandon GOP
In the wealthiest suburbs of Virginia, a quiet revolution was under way yesterday as life-long republicans switched sides to vote for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary.So deep is the disillusionment with George Bush, so uninspiring the choice offered by the Republicans, that many life-long conservatives are abandoning the Grand Old Party to support a liberal black candidate.

Even Colin Powell, who served in two Bush administrations, has let it be known that he is considering voting Democrat. “Every American has an obligation right now at this moment in our history,” Mr Powell said at the weekend, “to look at all the candidates and to make a judgement not simply on the basis of ideology or simply on the basis of political affiliation, but on the basis of who is the best person for all of America.”

Laura DeBusk, 37, a “stay-at-home-mom”, is one of the refuseniks who turned out yesterday for Mr Obama across Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. In the past two presidential elections she voted for George Bush in the belief that he could best protect America from terrorists. It is a choice she now bitterly regrets.

But she has been inspired by Mr Obama’s offer to bring together Americans from all political persuasions: “A friend of mine called me up after she heard I was for Obama,” she said. “She told me she was as well. ‘We’re the Obama-mamas,’ she told me. And it’s true. He is so inspiring we are going to volunteer for his campaign.”
Even the rich are revolting as Republicans abandon GOP – Americas, World – Independent.co.uk

When I last visited Great Britain the Supreme Court had just (wrongly) decided Bush vs. Gore and I proudly wore a Gore button so that anyone who saw me would at least not blame me for what had happened. Oh what innocent times those were, in retrospect. Back then the general view around the world was “We love America, we’re just not so sure about your leader” That has been a difficult position, full of cognitive dissonance, for people to maintain for the past seven years.

This time, as I wrote yesterday, I was confronted full face with just how much American politics matter to people all over the world when I saw an Obama08 bumper sticker on a passing car within 1 hour of my arrival here in London.

I have shared the sentiments with the home crowd via the Campaign08 blog at The Indpendent
(much excerpted from these comments)

A warning for my Hillary loving friends, that blog is just a tad hostile to her, as I am finding the populace here is.