Re: European leaders who support Kerry.

I can guess who they are: all of them. Isn't Bush the most conservative leader in NATO? Wouldn't all the others be more closely aligned with Kerry? Of course, I'm talking about the ones who are in power now, not the leaders of minority parties. I suspect even Tony Blair would like to have Kerry win, though he wouldn't say so publicly. All of them need to hedge their bets in case Bush wins.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of them told Kerry confidentially that they hope he wins, but they probably would be outraged if their names were made public, and would deny saying any such thing.

Remember the furor that Charles de Gaulle caused when he said, "Vive le Quebec libre"? Boy, that was a long time ago, but honestly, I can't remember another time when a European leader openly expressed an opinion about something that would be considered an internal matter in North America. Sure, Margaret Thatcher made no secret of how she idolized Ronald Reagan, but, as far as I can remember, she stopped short of saying he should be reelected.

That could be because the American media didn't report it, if it happened. Americans generally consider the opinions of foreigners to be irrelevant, unless it feels too much like they're interfering, and then they get mad. Hence the secrecy.

It's illegal for an American political candidate to accept money from a foreign source. Acknowledging even symbolic gestures of support would be hardly more respectable. Hence an attempt by the Bush people to embarrass Kerry by questioning him about it.

Nobody really wants to know what European leaders support Kerry.