03/11/2004 00:00
TW
0

by RAY FLEMING
WRITING several hours before the polling stations have closed in the US Presidential election it is pointless to talk about the probable outcome. However, one thing can be said with certainty about the 2004 election: the whole American nation has been engaged in the issues and the personalities in a way that has not been seen in Britain since 1997, and may never be seen again unless British politics stop merging to the centre with policies that are sometimes hard to identify as belonging to any one party.

The kind of apathy that has been displayed by the public at recent elections in the UK has been completely absent in the United States as the campaign there moved to its climax. Political parties in Britain complain that they cannot get people to come to meetings, let alone address envelopes at election time, and door-to-door canvassing seems to be almost a thing of the past. Yet in the United States the Democrats and the Republicans each claim to have had one million volunteeers at work in the last few weeks; the Democrats say they made 23 million telephone calls and knocked on eight million doors for Mr Kerry; the Republicans say they have made contact with 18 million voters. And a huge operation was organised by both parties to make sure that every single person likely to vote the “right” way was reminded to go to the polling stations and, if necessary, helped to get there.

ALTHOUGH there has been much to criticise about the conduct of the election by the parties - it has been a dirty and unprincipled campaign in many ways, especially in the accusations made against Senator Kerry's war record - the engagement and enthusiasm of the public has been a fine example of democracy in action.