JAKARTA, Indonesia, Feb. 5, 2008
Americans Overseas Kick Off Super Tuesday
Expatriates Head To Polling Places And, For First Time, The Internet
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Kate Redmond of Fairplay, Colorado, center, casts her ballot as others queue up to vote in 2008 U.S. presidential primary, at a hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
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Elizabeth Bonane, U.S. resident in Thailand, casts her vote in U.S. presidential primary at a polling station in Bangkok Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
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Play CBS Video Video A Sprint To Super Tuesday The remaining presidential candidates are battling for frontrunner status as they prepare for Super Tuesday, when 24 states will vote for a nominee. Gwen Belton reports from New York.
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Video Home Stretch To Super Tuesday Karen Brown reports on the presidential candidates as they campaign on the last day before the big Super Tuesday showdown.
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News Tools Super Tuesday Map See which states are holding Super Tuesday contests and how many delegates are at stake.
On the eve of Super Tuesday, the three Republican and two Democratic candidates for president spoke with Katie Couric. For full transcripts, follow the links.
But some voting experts expressed fears that Internet ballots were vulnerable to tampering, computer hacking and could not be authenticated or recounted.
Indonesia, where candidate Barack Obama once lived as a child, kicked off the Super Tuesday campaign at the stroke of midnight. More than a hundred people turned out at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in the normally bustling capital, saying America needed to restore its reputation across the globe.
"Living overseas, I think that's the most important thing," said Peter Gardiner as he waited in line with his family. "We've had eight years of an administration that has basically destroyed America's image."
While votes to choose party candidates were taking place in more than 20 U.S. states Tuesday, the busiest day in the U.S. primary election season, overseas balloting lasts for a week. Polling booths were being set up in locations ranging from a doughnut shop in Cambodia, to a pub in Ireland, to a French cafe.
CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen in Tokyo says, for Americans living abroad, it's never been easier to follow the election. Candidates have web sites where the interested can see position papers, watch campaign rallies and even check out the latest commercials. "It's almost like being home," says Petersen.
Expatriates weren't the only ones paying attention to the polling, adds Petersen; Super Tuesday was the top foreign story in Japan's news coverage.
The U.S. has dominated much of Asia's attention since World War II, and Petersen says Asians know that what happens in the U.S. can affect their lives. Different presidents deal differently with issues like exports to America, how the military is used in the region, and how to handle Chinese-American relations; and encouraging cooperation or confrontation with the regime in North Korea.
"This is a critical election. We are at a tipping point," said Don Bryant, a 54-year-old retired U.S. Army medical officer among dozens voting at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.
"The direction it goes will make a big difference in the life my children have."
Some 6 million expatriates are eligible to vote, but only a fraction have done so in the past. Up until recently, their only option was to mail absentee ballot request forms to their last U.S. county of residence, then wait for ballots to be delivered in time to vote.
Melissa Howell-Alipalo, a longtime resident in the Philippines, was among those voting online Tuesday - an option that, like overseas in-person voting, is not available to Republicans.
She said it couldn't have been easier.
"I registered with Democrats Abroad, I was approved, received my ballot number and a pin code in an e-mail. I clicked on the hyperlink, entered my ballot number, address and birth date."
Then presto, Howell-Alipalo said, she voted.
Barbara Simons, a member of the nonprofit Verified Voting Foundation and a critic of electronic voting, warned, however, that "just because it was simple, doesn't mean it's successful."
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"How do I know if ballot box stuffing was done?" she said in a telephone interview. "How do I know they were legitimate votes? This is not the way to run an election."This is not the way to run an election.
Barbara Simons, Verified Voting FoundationRepublicans Abroad has operated independently of its national party since 2003, and therefore cannot hold in-person or Internet votes overseas. But it is organizing to get more expatriate Republicans registered back home in time to receive their ballots overseas and cast them in primaries later this year.
Hundreds of Democrats were registered in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million, where Obama lived with his mother from the age of 6 until 10, growing up with exotic pets, like his monkey Tata, and tasting rare delicacies, from snake meat to grasshoppers.
"There is a bit of rooting for the hometown boy," said Tristram Perry, the public diplomacy officer at the U.S. Embassy, as an early tally at the J.W. Marriott gave Obama a resounding 75 percent of the votes to 25 percent for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"It is the first time someone who grew up in Indonesia is running for president."
But Ari Bassin, a 31-year-old New York native, said he was sticking with Clinton.
"She brings heft to the table and has respect from around the world that, at this point, I'm not sure Obama has," he said.
The Democratic National Convention in August will include 22 delegates from overseas. Under party rules, they get half a vote each for a total of 11. That's more than U.S. territories get, but fewer than the least populous states, Wyoming and Alaska, which get 18 delegate votes each.
The overseas delegates will be selected through a combination of local, regional and worldwide caucus meetings.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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See all 106 CommentsPosted by TruthWord08 at 05:41 PM : Feb 05, 2008
First, I don''t have a problem. Second, I''m not attacking Christianity, I''m just pointing out that it is just plain silly, kind of like your post above, and after all, I am allowed to exercise my freedom of expression. If you don''t like it, that''s your problem. So, stick that in your pipe and smoke it! :-)
Posted by Candide777
-How was skymountain being arrogant Candide777? From what I''m reading all I see is him just utilizing his freedom of speech and freedom of expression and his right to support whomever he chooses to support. If you don''t like it, that''s your problem, but attacking Christianity is just plain silly as it is no threat to you and noone will ever force you to become a Christian in the USA.
JMHO
TW08
LOL! They expand...they hire new people...in INDIA!!
Huckabee: "Will this flag pole fit up your arse? Get a job, you liberal freak!"
Well said!
I thought maybe you had an original thought of your own, but alas, you are just another blind sheep Neocon that sucks up whatever they tell you.
Sad, really.
I hope we have a massive Tax Increase just like 1993 when our economy went to heaven with a huge Budget Surplus my dear children would love to hear about today.
Too bad I love my children more than you do with your tax cuts and rebates non-senses.
Posted by skymountain3 at 09:35 AM : Feb 05, 2008
That''s absurd. If God were going to take care of any of this, you wouldn''t need to vote. God, if he exists, surely has more interesting things to amuse himself with than this infinitesimally small piece of dust we call earth, infested with humans busy destroying it like bacteria on a piece of meat. The arrogance of Christianity never ceases to amaze me.
lol, live in your little Neocon dream world poopus. Continue to let corporations operate at full profit at your expense. Pay 100% for their investment and get a few hours of talking time thru their service. Gawd, you haven''''t a freaking clue.
I work for a telecom, I know that about 99% of those little taxes they post on your phone bill go nowhere, dear, nor all those little fees. And I know exactly what they mean.
Sit back and drink your corporate margarita dear. Watch everything you have go down the corpoate drain.
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Posted by RowdyTexan2
ROWDY -- Dont be a corporate hater. They expand, the hire new people. It''s as simple as that.
Go vote for a Democrat. Makes no difference to me. When your taxes raise, then dont biitch.
lol, live in your little Neocon dream world poopus. Continue to let corporations operate at full profit at your expense. Pay 100% for their investment and get a few hours of talking time thru their service. Gawd, you haven''t a freaking clue.
I work for a telecom, I know that about 99% of those little taxes they post on your phone bill go nowhere, dear, nor all those little fees. And I know exactly what they mean.
Sit back and drink your corporate margarita dear. Watch everything you have go down the corpoate drain.
ROWDYDUMMY -- The unemployment rate fluxuates between 4.5 - 5 percent respectively. That''s a give or take number providing that the status quo is met (ie job creation matches new workers entering the workforce, etc...)
Now, providing that the Democrats are not bought by major corporations, as they usually are, and higher taxes are levied against major corporations, the corporations will start laying off people.
Take what you do ROWDY, when you go out and vote for Democrats and they raise your taxes (not to mention all the other hidden taxes that are tacked onto your phone bill, your electric bill, etc as inflation increases), what is it that you end up doing?
You start going through your bills and chopping out what you dont need so you can continue to try to live your comfortable lifestyle.
That''s the same thing corporations do. They are not going to take the monetary hit in their own pockets ROWDY, they are going to lay off workers.
I support corporate profits. The more profits, the more they can expand their business and with that, the more they can hire workers.
You apparently missed something. Unemployment has already soared, and people can''t make their house payments. And we just gave $100 billion to bail the SOB''s who caused the unemployment.
NEOCONS AND YOUR TAX DOLLAR AT WORK!!!
Yes, he is, but he won''''''''t win. Pick someone who can win kiddo. Ron Paul''''''''s in the same boat. Not gonna happen for him.
Posted by mudrose at 11:51 AM : Feb 05, 2008
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VOTE DEMOCRATIC!!!!!!!!!
VOTE DEMOCRATIC !!!!!!!!
The A$$ You Save Could Be YOUR OWN !!!
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Posted by neobrian
VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS!! VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS!!! SO YOU CAN GIVE EVEN MORE OF YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY AWAY TO PEOPLE THAT ARE LAZY AND DONT DESERVE IT!
VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS!!! VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS!!! SO THEY CAN TAX CORPORATIONS TO THE HILT SO BIG BUSINESS WILL STOP GROWING, SUFFER INSURMOUNTABLE LAYOFFS AND WATCH THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SHOOT SKY HIGH!!!
Yes, he is, but he won''''t win. Pick someone who can win kiddo. Ron Paul''''s in the same boat. Not gonna happen for him.
Posted by mudrose at 11:51 AM : Feb 05, 2008
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VOTE DEMOCRATIC!!!!!!!!!
VOTE DEMOCRATIC !!!!!!!!
The A$$ You Save Could Be YOUR OWN !!!
Your type is welcomed there !!!
Bigots,Brain-dead Shrubbies holding on to their last gasp of GOP-Polluted air,.Drinking their last cup of GOP polluted water,..Knowing,( but in denial ) that THIS Election WILL ERADICATE " The Corrupt GOP SECT ",
W Will WITHOUT a Doubt go doWn in history as the Most Corrupt,Criminal to EVER OCCUPY the white house.
Reagan was a B actor is his best role,..But W makes Nixon look like choir boy,..The Wide stance GOP Is DEAD ! NO MORE GOP ! MORE GOP !! NO MORE GOP !!!
Friends don`t friends vote republiCon !
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