BBV - Germany as a 'Swing State'?

[harmonyguy]

The fourth largest U.S. expatriate community in the world, the 270,000 Americans in Germany have traditionally leaned towards Republicans because the large number of soldiers, generally seen as more conservative, and the coordinated efforts of the military to get absentee ballots to the 100,000 troops.
(snip)

Germany's Der Spiegel magazine recently predicted that Germany could be a "swing state" in the election -- not because it has any electoral college votes but because the U.S. military would not be as pro-Republican as in the past.

Gary Smith, director of the American Academy think tank in Berlin, said U.S. civilians in Germany will be overwhelmingly pro-Kerry and the military less pro-Bush than in 2000.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=607729§ion=news

[claudiajean]

1. Hey, they're almost as big as Wyoming! n/t

[SoCalDem]

2. But.. they vote absentee in whatever "home state" they designate

so their effect would be scattered..

It's good that the military seems to have woken up:)

[RedEagle]

3. Wonder Why the Pentagon Has Been so Desparate to be the Middle Man

First it was internet voting, with all votes going to servers in the Pentagon for disbursement.

Then it was faxing. Never mind that some states had allowed this (not a good practice) for years. Suddenly, the Pentagon had to be the middleman and have the faxes go to them first instead of straight to the counties.

Then all of a sudden, people couldn't access the FVAP sites. And the military has been real quiet about people's ability to use FVAP ballots when overseas.

Didn't the Pentagon recently want all the absentee overseas ballots to go through them first, too? (Not sure I'm recalling that right)

Things that make you go, "Huh?"

[Karenina]

4. The Pentagon SHUT DOWN the site.

"Security problems."

[Maiden England]

5. That fiigures

probably couldn't 'secure' enough * votes