New Delhi
5 February 2008
Hillary Clinton got a thumbs up from Democrat voters in New Delhi
who were determined to break the gender barrier. "Barack Obama is a fine young man
but ... he is not a woman!" exclaimed nonagenarian Ethel Lowen, who accompanied her
danseuse daughter Sharon to a restaurant in Lodhi Colony here to vote in the Super
Tuesday primaries.
The mother-daughter duo, like several other Democrat voters living in India, made
history on Tuesday by walking into the polling station set up by Democrats Abroad-India
and voted for a Democratic nominee who they thought must succeed Republican George
W Bush as the 44th President of the United States.
Sharon, an Odissi dancer who's been living in India since 1973, would not be as
categorical as her mother. "It was not an easy choice (between Clinton and Obama)," she
said after casting her vote, but indicated nevertheless that there is a lot more gender
prejudice in the US than racial prejudice.
Sharon was not circumspect, though, when the conversation turned to Bush. "It is
critically important that the US gets a Democrat President before the tsunami created by
Bush destroys the whole planet," she shot back when asked why she felt it was
important for her to come and vote.
"Bill Clinton left American coffers full but Americans are suffering recession because of
Bush's policies," Sharon explained. "Americans abroad understand how dangerous US
policies are," she added, a thought that finds resonance with Carolyn Sauvage-Mar,
chairperson of Democrats Abroad-India.
"There are 67 million American overseas voters and we wanted the voting here today to
reflect the concerns of overseas voters," Carolyn said. "We wanted all of us to
experience voting in India, the biggest democracy of the world." Carolyn will be
responsible for couriering the paper ballots off to Switzerland, where Christine Marques,
international chair of Democrats Abroad, will validate the votes.
Krista and Rebecca Galvan would not tell who they voted for but they felt that although
the media might have projected the election as a Clinton versus Obama battle,
Republicans should not be discounted just yet. "It ain't over till it's over," said Rebecca,
a teacher who came to India six months ago.
James Baer, treasurer of Democrats Abroad-India and a freelance writer living in New
Delhi for two years now, is thrilled at the turnout. He said that an equally large number of
Democrat voters living elsewhere in India have registered to vote online. Votes could be
cast by fax and post, too.
Voters in 24 states of the US went to the polls on Tuesday to indicate the Republican and
Democratic parties' respective preferences for their presidential nominee. Senators
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are vying for the nomination of the Democratic Party
and Senator John McCain and (former) Governor Mitt Romney are competing for the
Republican Party's nomination.
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