Anxious political junkies gathered at the Munk Centre’s Vivian and David Campbell Conference Centre on Tuesday night, where the election coverage was displayed on the conference centre’s big-screen TV.
Lars Coenen, a visiting researcher, was in the crowd. Coenen was supporting John Kerry because “it would be safer for the world,” and added that “Bush’s politics are scary; very much built on fear.” Coenen, born in Holland, said that Europeans were paying close attention to the election this year and were hoping that a Kerry win would bring “a return to the 90s.” He said that Canadians and Europeans were similar because they were both paying more attention to American politics, but he added that the public seemed more knowledgeable in Canada.
Also watching the coverage at the Munk Centre was Ian Cooper (pictured left), a post-doctoral student who lived in the United States for several years. Cooper was also pulling for a Kerry win. “I think he’ll be better for America,” he said, “and better for the world in that he’ll have a more multilateral foreign policy.” Of Kerry’s opponent, George W. Bush, Cooper said, “His presidency has not been a success by any measure.
“Things could have gone a different way [after September 11, 2001].”
