I have to stick my hands up and admit it was my fault (the 'dang foreigner'!) but as an Englishman (I cant be foreign I'm British!!) living on a small island off the UK and this being one of the few message boards I subscribe to I rarely get the opportunity to speak to Americans or find out about what they think about their leaders and political system first hand. The nominations and the election race is covered quite widely here, as it should be as one way or another it affects us all, and as your election system is so different from our own and as the candidates up for nomination are so disparate and interesting this time around it makes for a truly fascinating spectacle. I mean you have a woman and a black guy both running in the same party for nomination and both with a real chance of getting it and going on to become the next leader of the free world. It doesn't get any better than that! With these choices come a real shot at a completely new state of idealism in the USA and a style of leadership and way of thinking that maybe you have had before. We in the UK frankly can't stand Bush and his immature Gung Ho style of leadership that has resulted in the deaths of so many fine young men for what? To finish off a job started by his 'daddy' decades ago! The Bush administration simply didn't give it enough thought they just piled into Iraq shrieking Yeeehaaw as they went and telling everybody it would all be over by Christmas. Now most of the guys that get it in Iraq never even get to see the enemy they just get blown up by some roadside bomb, what sort of a way to die is that? I'm no pacifist but I know a waste of time and effort when I see it! Anyway before I get into something else entirely I just wanted to get opinions of some real Americans and not just about chips (about which I know little frankly!) so I can get to understand your processes a little better.