Posted on 09/10/2004 9:35:43 PM PDT by crushelits
SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico (Reuters) - Normally a sleepy refuge for aging hippies and wealthy retirees, this cobblestone town in Mexico's mountainous heartland is abuzz with U.S. election fever as campaigners clamor for their votes.
For the roughly 5,000 Americans living here, political get-togethers have disrupted a leisurely routine of sculpture classes and tennis, and pro- or anti-Bush badges are suddenly de rigueur as Democrats and Republicans fish for support from expatriates.
"People are talking a lot about politics because of the terrible way the last election was decided," said New York-born Barbara Lichter, who has lived in Mexico for half a century.
"I've been wearing my 'BeatBush2004' button since February, but this campaign is more about getting people out to vote than just Kerry versus Bush."
Absentee votes have become crucial for the Nov. 2 election after overseas voters in 2000 helped provide the tiny margin President Bush (news - web sites) needed to take the White House.
An estimated 5-7 million Americans live abroad, up to a million of them in Mexico, a statistic that has prompted both Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) to send family members south of the border to campaign.
"This could be a close election so every vote counts. Overseas votes could define the next U.S. administration," said Ana Maria Salazar, head of the Kerry campaign in Mexico, which has volunteers distributing leaflets and organizing meetings from cities like Monterrey and Guadalajara to rural villages.
"There are Americans all over the place in Mexico. Go to any village, especially in the north, and you'll find people with dual nationality who can vote in this election."
The Republican camp has also taken its campaign to towns across Mexico in light of the extremely close 2000 election.
"Mexico will play a very important role in this election. We have a common objective which is getting Americans to vote," said Larry Rubin, the Republicans' Mexico representative, at a joint vote-gathering cocktail with Democrats in Mexico City this week.
POLITICS TAKES OVER
Americans account for one in twelve of the population of 60,000 in San Miguel de Allende, a picture-book hilltop town in the state of Guanajuato. English-speaking cafes cater to armies of Hawaiian-shirted gringos while outside indigenous Indians in straw hats hawk wares unloaded from donkeys.
What began as a colony of U.S. artists in the late 1940s swelled in the 70s and has since expanded to include professionals working via Internet and a flood of retirees, some permanent residents and others dubbed "snowbirds" because they migrate to Mexico to escape the harsh U.S. winter.
While life here still revolves around golf, handicrafts, bridge evenings and even face-lifts, so many Americans have applied for overseas voting forms in recent weeks that the local consular agent has twice run out of registration forms.
"People are talking more about politics now than they ever have," said Philip Maher, U.S. consular agent here since 1983. "I've never seen people so interested in voting."
Kerry campaigners here sold 400 tickets for a fund-raiser in July, and Republicans have been coming forward since Bush's nephew George P. Bush hosted a breakfast here in August.
"The Democrats have been doing a lot of campaigning here," said Ivan, a retired DJ from Oklahoma, basking in the sun in San Miguel's leafy central square. "I didn't get around to registering to vote in 2000 but I have this time as I'm a Republican and we're a minority here.
Swell.
I know what postings are coming next.... wait and see, wait and see..... (00)
God help us!
"If you've lived in Mexico for 25 years in what state are you registered to vote?"
Florida! Land of the hanging chad.
No, wait, California, aka Upper Tijuana,
No, wait.....
Well, Reuters says they are all Democrats....do I believe this...no!
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