Overseas, debate draws a large audience

[AnIndependentTexan]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6151880/
Overseas, debate draws a large audience
Many foreign observers say Kerry did better than BushThe Associated Press
Updated: 8:50 p.m. ET

In France and Germany, which opposed the Iraq war, Kerry’s promise of a multilateral U.S. foreign policy was welcomed.

In France, results of a pre-debate poll said nearly 90 percent of French favor Kerry, and one analyst said the reasons why are obvious.

“We are in a logic of ’Anything but Bush,”’ Andre Kaspi, an expert on the United States at Paris’ Sorbonne University, told the daily newspaper La Croix.

In Russia, Italy and Sweden, media Web sites declared Bush’s Democratic challenger the winner in the debate, but some said that may not be enough for a comeback in the polls.

In Russia, analyst Alexander Kremenyuk said, “Frankly speaking, for an acting president, Bush looked quite weak. He was defending himself. He wasn’t attacking much. ... At some points, he had to justify himself