Expat Vote
February 22, 2008
More than 65 percent of expat Democrats picked Obama, while just under 33 percent chose Clinton, according to the worldwide results released on Thursday, Feb. 21.
Democrats in 164 countries participated in the global primary, casting their ballots by post, fax, e-mail or in person between Feb. 5 and Feb. 12, according to the organizers, Democrats Abroad.
Obama was even more popular among Germany's expat voters, taking 66.7 percent of the vote, while Clinton received 31.8 percent.
But the result is largely symbolic. The candidates need to secure 2,048 delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Democrats Abroad sends only 22 delegates -- with 11 votes between them -- to the Democratic convention in Denver this August. Their voting will reflect the balance of the global primary vote in different parts of the world.
Vote reflects the winds of change
The chairman of the Berlin Chapter of Democrats Abroad Germany, Michael Steltzer, welcomed the huge rise in numbers of expats who took part in this year's vote as a reflection of the strong desire for change.
"We have upped our vote by about 200 percent," Steltzer said. "Americans who are living abroad are fed up and they are going to the urns. They are confronted with the results of US foreign policy more than Americans who are at home."
Steltzer, a long-term resident of the German capital, said the results also reflected this sentiment.
"Hillary voted for that Iraq war and has not really apologized for it," he said.
In Berlin, the support for Obama was even stronger than elsewhere in Germany with some 78 percent voting for the 46-year-old contender.
Another blow for Hillary in the presidential race
March 4 is increasingly looking as if it might be make-or-break time for Hillary Clinton, who is trailing Obama in the race to the White House. That's the date when Democrats in the two big states of Ohio and Texas get to choose their delegates.
Obama has managed to gain an increasing share of Clinton's core voting blocs of blue-collar and low-income workers, while also become increasingly popular with Hispanic voters. MSNBC currently gives Obama 1,168 to Clinton's 1,018 votes.