Burning issue

Published on Wednesday 6 February 2008 20:25

Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for the presidency?

OBAMA

Mary Arkleff, a resident of Aberdeenshire since 1999

I'm from Indiana, so our primary isn't until May when everything may be done and dusted. Right now. I think I will be supporting Barack Obama, as he's still in. I think he will be better for the future of the United States and pulling the country together, and also better for foreign relations as well.

I think Hillary will get a lot of support, because she is a woman; that was a big thing in New Hampshire. I know a lot of people in my parents' generation are vehemently against her, for one reason or another. Back when Bill Clinton was in, they were anti-Bill Clinton, and I think she has been tarred with the same brush.

I think almost half the votes were decided in Super Tuesday, so a lot of things will fall out today or shortly after. Having our primary so late, it will probably be pretty much settled but people will still go out and vote. I haven't spoken to a lot of my ex-pat friends but I would think we are representative of the general US, really.

The people I see in my chat rooms on the internet, which includes a lot of people in the US, really want a change and are dissatisfied with what has happened, especially the second stint of George Bush. They really want a change.

Quite a lot of people support Hillary, but a lot are also saying we really want to make peace within the US, and I think Barack would be more likely to deliver that. His experience of living abroad and having a foreign father means that he will be more likely to look at how we sit in the world, unlike George Bush, who had only been to Mexico before he became president.

CLINTON

Margo Miller, London-based co-chair of Americans Abroad for Hillary

We head up a large grass-roots organisation called Americans Abroad for Hillary. We've had global conference calls with people in cities around the world, with prominent Hillary supporters. The first one had 25 different cities represented, with people calling in from living rooms and boardrooms.

We want the best candidate in the party to be the nominee. I personally think Hillary is the strongest. We have doubled our membership in the last month because people are paying so much attention to this primary process. It takes a long time to register to vote, so it's very important to get out to them for the general election.

I think it will be Hillary, and I hope it's Hillary, but if it's Obama we will do everything we can to get him elected. Hillary is the most qualified candidate running, ready to lead the country from day one. She knows how government works, she knows how to get her legislation through Congress. She has been an incredibly effective senator. She works hard, is incredibly intelligent and knows what needs to be done.

She has a health-care policy that will provide universal care to 45 million uninsured Americans, whereas Obama will insure half of them at 80 per cent of the cost of Hillary's programme to insure all of them.

She has met with 80 world leaders, she has respect, she won re-election by an overwhelming majority in New York. She met her constituents, she listened to them; they got to know her and realised she could deliver.