Knight/Ridder: "Americans abroad could make difference in close election"

[AVID]

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/10/17/build/world/67-americans-abroad.inc

BERLIN - Henry Nickel and other representatives of the much-talked-about presidential swing vote sat in a basement bar, drinking tall German beers and small dark coffees, and enjoying their moment in the American political spotlight.



Reporters from Time magazine, Knight Ridder, a German newspaper and a couple of German television stations listened as five men - four Republicans and a Democrat - discussed how, just as in 2000, they think the votes of Americans living in foreign countries might decide a close presidential election.

"What you're looking at is the difference in a close election," said Nickel, the head of GOP Germany, a group of Republican partisans who live in Germany. "Obviously not just us, around this table. But we learned last time, in 2000, when Americans voting abroad cast the deciding votes in Florida, we do matter. The election is very close again. This looks like the year of the expat," as expatriates call themselves.



Nickel isn't alone in thinking so. Last time, Florida was decided by 537 votes. The election this time is seen as just as close. To find an edge, Democrats and Republicans have been furiously registering as many of the estimated 6 million to 7 million Americans abroad as they can find.

They've been making progress. In London, Rachelle Valladares, the international chair for Democrats Abroad, said her group had registered more than 200,000 voters since the last presidential election and increased the number of countries where it had registered voters from 30 to 78.