Well, Muppett, as a transplanted (to Sheffield) Yank, I feel qualified to answer your question. Most folks in the US do not take much of an interest in non-US elections. Heck, a lot of folks in the US don't take all that much interest in *US* elections! This one just gone was exceptional, as you probably know.

Having lived in both the US and the UK, I can tell you that the coverage of the US elections here is about 100 times that of US coverage of the UK's (or just about any other country's) elections. Even when it's not election time, UK coverage of US politics is *huge* compared to US coverage of UK (or again, just about anyone else's) politics. When I first moved over here, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was BIG in the US and I remember thinking it would be a releief to not be constantly hearing about it on the news... boy was I wrong! I suspect it was even more on the news in the US, but I was amazed by how much coverage of it there was over here.

Back to the subject... before I moved to the UK, I could tell you who was PM of the UK, but I couldn't have told you who the challenger/loser was (unless it was the previous PM). And I have to tell you that I was probably more knowledgeable than most. (That's not bragging – I just know that I was brought up paying a bit more attention to politics/other countries than most kids I knew, because my dad taught/teaches political science at a [small] local university.) US media will tell you "So-and-so is the new president/prime minister/whatever of wherever", and they may even mention who was defeated – and maybe a teeny bit of background info – but it only gets mentioned once or twice, and most people (me included) don't remember something they've only heard once or twice (especially when it's just "boring" politics...). Here's a little game we could try (if you want to): See how many US presidents someone from the UK can name (without resorting to any references – just off the top of your head); then see how many British Prime Ministers someone from the US can name... I'd be willing to bet a rather large sum of money that at least 7 out of 10 times, the UKer will be able to name significantly more Prezzes than the other way round.

There is *very* little coverage of *any* other country's elections in the US media – even Canada, which is right next door to us. Sadly, I think it's safe to say that more Americans don't know the name of Canada's PM than do. (There was a very sad/funny incident where "a camera crew from the satirical Canadian television show 'This Hour Has 22 Minutes' asked Bush his reaction to "Prime Minister Poutine's" assessment that the Texas governor would win the presidency.

'I appreciate his strong statement,' Bush said. 'He understands I believe in free trade. He understands I want to make sure our relationship with our most important neighbor to the north is strong.'

The prime minister's name, of course, isn't 'Poutine,' a word that means a Quebec gustatory treat, a mass of greasy french fries drenched in cheese curd and gloppy brown gravy.")

Media coverage in the US tends to be by, for and about the US. When I lived in the Detroit area, I could get Canadian radio & television, and I remember thinking more than once that Canadian news programs were much broader in the news they covered – made me realize how US-centered most of our news is. I used to purposely tune in to Canadian news because I felt it gave me a more balanced view of things – and more info about what was going on in the rest of the world. It's the same thing all over again if you compare US news to UK news.

Also bear in mind that an alarmingly large number of US folks can't even point to the UK (or all *that* many other countries, I'm afraid) on a map (I'm NOT proud of this – far from it!), so how good are they going to be at keeping track of its elections?

These "slights" aren't out of spite – they're "just" the result of being so preoccupied with ourselves and our country, which is at least partly (in my opinion) because as a country we are so large, rich and powerful (not to mention spoiled) that we seem to think that what happens in other parts of the planet doesn't really affect us – at least not all that much... except for maybe needing more oil, but aside from that...

Of course this is short-sighted and selfish thinking, but hey, WE won't be around when all these chickens (which we have done so much to fatten up ourselves) come home to roost, so why should WE worry?

To be fair, not all USians think this way – but far too many of us do (far too many for *my* comfort, at least).

Soooo... are you happy now, Muppett?

P.S. George, I felt appalled and ashamed of my country when I read what happened to your Godfather (and not for the first time, nor will it – I'm sure – be the last, more's the pity.)