Chuffed, I will have to use that in my day to day conversations.  Once in  a while you will hear the term "chuffy" which means a little overweight or round, undoubtedly that is what my countrymen will think I am saying.  I am pleased more to find not everyone in the UK loathes the USA.  A visit to the BBC website yesterday on the US primary subject showed the usual anti-American crowd was out in force. 

Probably more people are interested in this race right here in America than have ever been before in my lifetime.  There is a feeling among many that this election is going to mark a turning point in our nation.  There is a feeling it has to mark a turning point as well, many including me feel our nation is headed in the wrong direction and we are sincerely worried about our personal futures as well as the future of our neighbors and the nation as a whole.  Add to that the possibility of the first woman or person of African descent could be President and it makes for alot of interest,plus the press here is falling all over themselves to influence the outcome as well.  A week or two ago everyone was counting Clinton out, now all the newscasters can talk about is a brokered convention.

Peter, I don't know how many superdelegates there are but it is in the 100s.  They are the elite of the Democratic party, elected officials such as Senators and the like.  They are allowed to vote whatever way the feel is best for the party.  The Republicans do not have the same set up hence we have no superdelegates.

There is now talk of a revote in Michigan and Florida, won't that be a mess??

I should have mentioned that in the event of being very pleased with yourself (e.g. after selling your wheat at a really good price to the bloke who sold you the new pickup and finding Nicole Kidman sitting in the back ...) you would probably be "well chuffed"

There is an excellent guide to British English here

The Democrats have 4,047 delegatesof which 3,253 are pledged delegates and 794 are superdelegates. The winning post is therefore considered 2,024 delegates.Currently there appears to be 238 superdelegates pledging there support for Clinton and 199 for Obama thus leaving 357 undecided. At present Obama is ahead by 96 total delegates due to being ahead by 135 freely elected delegates. The issue relating to Forida and Michigan is about 366 delegates who are not eligible to vote in the Convention due to the states moving their primary dates forward. Of these delegates, judging by the votes in these two states, Clinton would have an extra 216 delegates and Obama 150. If these were brought back in Obama would lead by only 30 delegates at the moment and the non-elected superdelegate issue would become a real issue. I am not sure what the rules are about John Edwards 26 pledged candidates. Maybe KF can tell is if they are allowed to vote at all and if so are they free to vote for who they wish?

Stuart's explanation leaves me feeling quite inadequate in the way I answered the question by doing as little work as possible to find the answers.  I will do better in the future!  John Edwards can vote, and I think they can vote however they please, although if Edwards endorses one candidate they should vote for that candidate.  If he doesn't, I think many of them will vote for Edwards even if he isn't in the running, but I honestly don't know for certain.

KF, just try the Communist News Network's Election Centre. Very comprehensive. I am looking forward to seeing how the Democrats are going to resolve the issue of who runs for President and who for VP, is it Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama on the ticket. Either way, is the US population going to accept the concept of them running together on the same ticket given that they are clearly the bast of friends!? Conversely, from my limited view, I think McCain/Huckabee could work. Stuart

You had me for a minute Stuart, using my own words about CNN.  I was about to post that I was unfamiliar with the Communist News Network.....very clever Stuart!!  Obama said this weekend he will NOT run for the VP spot...he could of course change his mind, but he sounded pretty definite. 

Something noteworthy that has not seemed to receive coverage in the BBC is the "angst" if you will that broke last week regarding comments made by Obama's pastor in sermons, that seem to many including me to be racist against white people.  Many do not consider racial insults to whites to be a problem, given the origins it makes many white people uncomfortable that a man who wants to be President of our nation went to a church with a leader who not only made remarks some whites find very offensive but also made some very unpatriotic remarks about our nation and seemed to imply that we had 9-11 coming to us.  Obama has renounced these comments, which is all fine and good, but what is hard to swallow is his claim that he did not know Jeremiah Wright his longtime pastor and supporter had made remarks like this until now.  One would have to believe that the leader of a church sets the tone of a church, and that someone who appears clearly to have some very harsh feelings towards whites and the USA would have shared them with Obama at some point.  If the situation was reversed and it was a white candidate who attended a church with a white pastor who made remarks against blacks, this surely would disqualify that person in the minds of many.  I think this story is worth watching, as we may have just seen a turn in Obamas fortune politically. 

kansasfarmer:

Something noteworthy that has not seemed to receive coverage in the BBC

Many millions of us in Britain know that the BBC has its own 'agenda' and so are not surprised at your observation. The Daily Telegraph did however, carry the story and, I believe that Obama has dropped the Pastor as an advisor or some similar type of post.

kansasfarmer:

I think this story is worth watching, as we may have just seen a turn in Obamas fortune politically. 

We shall continue to watch the story and the Presidential race with interest.

A slight change of tack. I guess you were not a major shareholder in the Bear Steans bank.

Peter, the only thing I hold any major shares in is this farm.  I do have a very small annuity(stress the very small) that invests in a wide portfolio of stocks.  Since it isn't much money I don't fret about the entire thing.  It is my mother who is at retirement age who is taking the big hit in our family.  A huge part of her retirement funds are in a 401K, or something like that that is all in the stock market.  In spite of constant nagging over the years by both my father and I to take at least half of it and put it in the bank she has insisted she was some sort of financial wizard and it had to stay in the market.  I know I shouldn't share this next part but I always found it very funny.  One day I heard my mother tell my father she had lost nearly half her money in the last downturn, to which my father offered this sympathetic statement, "well you damn fool, I told you to put it in the bank".  I think it is those unexpected loving comments that have made their marriage last nearly 44 years.  On another note, this stock market is what helps drive our land prices so high, because so many now do not trust the market to put their money in, and interest rates on savings are so low. 

In case you missed it, now Hillary has stepped in a mess of her own.  She commented that she landed in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire, and had to run to the convoy with her head down, and there was not even a greeting ceremony.  Sinbad, a comedian with her at the time, contradicted this account, and tape has now come to light clearly showing the scenario she painted was patently false.  Now she says she was tired and misspoke.  None of the media here is buying her story, and I imagine only the really dumb voters are.  To me, this is the Clinton legacy, don't let the truth get in your way.  I have no idea if this will hurt her longterm, but it can't help.  Amazing really, just when this Jeremiah Wright thing looked like it was really going to hurt Obama, Hillary shoots herself in the foot with and idiotic story that can be clearly proven false.  Nice to see the Democrats whaling on each other, while McCain keeps his hands clean on the sidelines. 

I guess we're all prone to a little exaggeration at times to make a story a bit more exciting. But it never ceases to surprise me at how politicians and other public figures speak as though what they say is of no more interest to the media than the average FWI reader. It suggests a lack of self confidence on their part which, it is believed, can only be boosted by asserting a virtue not borne out by the facts.

My own observations suggest that left of centre politicians seem to be more prone than those of the centre right and I have wondered why!.

After nothing noteworthy to report on the election front, I can now update all the "fans" of US politics in FWi land that Obama has now "stepped" in the proverbial verbal cowpie himself, bigtime, managing to alienate and offend a very large segment of the US electorate.  While he has been able to explain away comments his wife made that some felt were anti-American and the fact his longtime pastor gave sermons with both racist and anti-American themes(one quote I listened to his preacher uttered the phrase, "God damn America"), he is going to have trouble explaining away comments he(Obama) made in which he stated that small town Americans are bitter toward the government, and that is why they "cling" to guns and religion, and why they are against many immigrants.  This is not the exact quote,but very close to it.  I for one am deeply offended by the comment.  Up until now, I was not someone who was going to vote for Obama, but I saw him as a reasonable man, very liberal, but someone I would not be uncomfortable with should he be elected President.  Had he simply said small town America was bitter toward the government it would be no big deal, although I think the word "cynical" is more appropriate.  However, to suggest that the millions of small town Americans who believe in God do so to cope with the fact they are "bitter" suggests he is not only not in touch with ordinary America, coupled with his attendance over the years to a church with a pastor who preached some very "strange" sermons for a man who called himself a Christian is a red flag. The idea that I believe in the right to own a gun stems from the fact I am bitter is really a stretch.  Most offensive, and problematic, is the notion that those who are not happy about illegal(and that is the problem, ILLEGAL) immigrants in our midst can all be pinned down to the fact we are bitter about the economy makes you wonder where the mans sense of reality stems from.  Of course Hillary has jumped on this, and with good reason, although it is hard to imagine she can understand what ordinary Americans think given the revelation she and Bill pulled down $109 million in the last 5 or 10 years, I can't remember which. 

 I actually believe Obama was trying to defend us hicks against the opinions of the big- city far- left wealthy who are his bread and butter, trying to explain our eccentric ways, such as the idea we go to church and actually believe in God, the fact we believe law abiding citizens have the right to bear arms, and our strange notion that an "illegal immigrant" is not a good thing, if for no other reason than that they are illegal.  What he did was expose himself as something of an elitist snob.  We may be a little simple in our ways, but out in the sticks, we know when we are being talked down to, and we won't forget it.  Smooth talk has gotten Obama far,but I don't think it can get him out of this one with many of the voters who were once his base.  Time will tell, but I think he did John McCain a big favor. 

 Kansas

Obama's pastor sounds like a right nasty fella and I imagine if he is preaching such crap as you have mentioned and the Obamas are listening to him then the sooner the Obamas are out of the race the better, even though this would allow the scary Clinton woman in as the Democratic candidate, but I dont think she has a cat in hells  chance of beating John McCain in the  Presidential election.

Dick