Election fever?

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So what has election fever been like in Switzerland in the build up to Election Day?

“For us it’s been steady as she goes, plodding along,” laughed Edward Patrick Flaherty, co-chairman of Republicans Abroad Switzerland, which boasts 250 members. “We’ve had more people showing interest; there has been more enthusiasm. But there are not many so-called independents who switch sides.”

 Meanwhile, this time round Obama-mania has been decidely deflated.

“Like in 2008, new people have been coming out of the woodwork,” said Maya Samara, Chair of Democrats Abroad Switzerland, which has 3,000 members.

But she admitted that people had been later getting into campaigning than in 2008.

Another big difference is the activism of the non-Americans, she added.

“In 2008 it seemed that all the international community wanted to get involved in the Obama campaign. We had Africans in Geneva asking to do something; we did pub crawls and tons of non-Americans got involved. This year we didn’t have many foreigners active.”