The US Presidential Race Comes to Toronto, Sort of.

Yesterday I was somewhat startled to see several people outside of the Union Station (as the train station in downtown Toronto is called) carrying Barack Obama placards. I thought to myself “what are they doing here ?” Turns out that the other side of the placard was an advertisement for US/Canadian dual citizens and American citizens living in Toronto to apply for absentee ballots for the coming Presidential election this fall. Given that Obama and his organization had taken care to set up campaign organizations in every single state during the primary season (unlike the Clinton campaign and which may have cost her the nomination) and have taken advantage of the internet in ways that no presidential candidate has in recent memory, it perhaps should not be surprising that the Obama campaign is reaching out to American voters living abroad. In all fairness, I wonder if the McCain campaign is doing the same thing. Canadians are watching this race quite closely as evidenced by extensive coverage in the papers up here. In any case, I have sent in a request for an absentee ballot and hope to be able to participate !