'I don't think I can stay if Bush wins'

Some left-leaning Californians say they would rather leave the United States -- and go to Canada or elsewhere -- than stay with George W. Bush as president.

''I certainly don't love the climate of Vancouver, but I love the sanity,'' said Steve Crawford, 54, a singer and actor working as a volunteer at the Democratic Party offices in Santa Monica.

He and his wife, Karen, have been investigating selling their home in Pacific Palisades, an upmarket area close to the coast, and moving to Canada.

''For someone like me, if this happens, I can't in good conscience allow myself to support another Bush government, even benignly. And a lot of other people are saying the same.

''I have a good friend who is adamant he will leave if Bush is re-elected. He's picked two countries and will definitely go to one should this happen.''

In the heavily Democratic state, famous for its Hollywood- and San Francisco-inspired latte liberal politics, such talk has become increasingly common at Starbucks and at dinner parties.

At first, the threat was little more than a joke. Now, on the eve of one of the most polarized elections in recent history, some say they really do intend to leave should ''the worst'' occur.

There seems little doubt Californians will deliver the state's valuable 55 electoral votes to the Democratic candidate. In a poll on Friday, Mr. Kerry had a seven-point lead statewide, with a 24-point lead in Los Angeles county and a 35-point lead in the San Francisco Bay area.

But fear at what may happen in the key swing states of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania has led to an escalation in coffee-shop chatter about emigration to Canada, Britain and elsewhere.

''Do you think Great Britain would give us political asylum?'' a woman in Starbucks asked. ''It's just ... I don't think I can stay if Bush wins again.''

Mr. Crawford said it would be a difficult decision to move his nine-year-old son from his elementary school. ''But if I feel he's going to be living in an environment that's not safe for him, then I will do it. First and foremost I'm a dad.''

Gretchen Witte, 35, from Alhambra, east of Los Angeles, who runs her own Internet business, is making plans to move to London, where she previously lived for eight years, should Mr. Bush win.

''As a woman, the current climate is becoming intolerable. Bush has just appointed a man to the FDA reproductive health panel who believes that women with medical trouble should pray to Jesus for relief. If this is what America is becoming, I cannot live here. The only reason I can sleep at night is the thought that I can leave the country if he wins.''

Robert Boleyn, a 35-year-old independent consultant from Los Angeles, says he hears people ''all the time' 'saying they will emigrate if Mr. Bush wins.

''But I think it's often more a measure of frustration with the last four years than a real intention to leave,'' he added.

Voluntary exile as a political statement is nothing new. Democrat-supporting celebrities have a habit of making (usually empty) threats to leave should the election not go their way. Robert Redford, a vocal critic of Mr. Bush's policies, was reported this month to have vowed to move to Ireland, where he owns homes near Dublin, if Mr. Bush is re-elected. Before the 2000 poll, Alec Baldwin's then wife, Kim Basinger, told Germany's Focus magazine the actor ''might leave the country if Bush is elected ... and then I'd probably have to go, too.'' Mr. Baldwin did not leave.

The only public figure to carry out his promise was Pierre Salinger, the White House press secretary during the Kennedy administration, who died last month. Before the 2000 election, he said: ''If Bush wins, I'm going to leave the country and spend the rest of my life in France.'' He did.

Boy, it sounds remarkably like the reactions of the tree-hugging Left in Australia in the wake of their "surprising" defeat in election last month. They are now mouthing they want to come to New Zealand!

(Via conservative Australian blog Silent Running: NAKBA!)

after witnessing the throng of obviously materialistic, self-centred s*ckers making their way to the booths today.. my heart sank. 3 more years of this lying little sh*t. it is not right.

I don't understand. What does this say about our country? I feel ill.

How come our feelings were sooo wrong,Why is it that people seemed to coninue to trust the rodent even though he lied all the way to the end.

Sorry to all mortgagees, but I hope that interest rates go up and up and up. "How long oh Lord, whilst Thou forget me forever??!!"

I think I will go and get drunk now. Tomorrow, it's www.monster.co.nz for me.

I think a lot of the electorate IS stupid (and apathetic) when it comes certain things. I'd say that regardless of the result. Ah, Latho...I'm still proud of your efforts. How Australians could vote for an arrogant, contemptuous, lying war-mongerer over you I'll never know. Just shows the idealistic image we all like to have of Aussies - egalitarian, open, honest, fair, generous, principled, adventurous spirit...it's all crap! What will it take for people to wake up? I suspect that if the Coalition gassed a marginalised group (like refugees) they'd still get 35% of the vote. .

I'm running away to New Zealand.

Gotta say I feel disgusted with my compatriots the same way I did in Britain in the mid 80s, which prompted me to come here. NZ looks good. Know a few people who've gone there recently for the same reason. [ ... ] I didn't expect Labor to get up, but an increased majority? F**k me dead. And pass the bottle.

No aount of red wine is going to dull the pain I am feeling for this country. Bunch of f*rking soupers, cowed convicts and s*ckholes that is what we are.

And what about the f**king fundies? Saint, I feel for you and your ilk. It's starting to look like America in the influence of the evangelicals on national politics. But could I support the All Blacks ... ?

I'd support the All Blacks if it'd piss off John Howard...

Folks, maintain the rage....for if we don't no one else will, and without us the country is f**ked.

Ah, bugger it I just can't keep going.

Yes folks, we just voted ourselves into a one party state. Aaugh!

F**k it. I despair of this country.

There has been a fundamental shift to the right. As a person who can't understand the right and all it stands for, I am terrified what that will mean.

You say "don't blame the people" because, in the past they elected Labor? News for ya babe... these aren't THOSE PEOPLE! This is a whole new breed of lazy, frightened, arrogant, petty, self-righteous, greedy, hypocritical, ignorant, self-absorbed, spineless, self-indulgent, racist homophobes. Sure, not all the sheep in this country have ALL those attributes, but very few don't have at least one. Oh... and the corporate media are a bunch of whores. Am I bitter? SH*T YEAH!

This election was stolen. Simple as that. Count every vote, they say, but they don't mean every IDIOT'S vote. God help Aborigines, migrants, the enviroment, Iraq's freedom fighters and trees in Tasmania. Its just too sad. I cry as I write.

Welcome to fellow freeloader state, Canada! Let's join and celebrate the brotherhood of enlightenment! [/sacrasm]

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