UN delegates pulling for Obama win

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- U.N. delegates say they are pulling for a U.S. presidential election victory by Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

Eight years of disdain for the institution from Republican U.S. President George Bush has left a legacy of hard feelings and most delegates and staffers interviewed by The Washington Post indicated a strong preference for Obama over GOP opponent Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

The Post said an informal survey of more than two dozen U.N. delegates and staffers found Obama supporters from Russia, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Indonesia and elsewhere.

"It would be hard to find anybody, I think, at the U.N. who would not believe that Obama would be a considerable improvement over any other alternative," William Luers, executive director of the United Nations Association, told the newspaper. "It's been a bad eight years, and there is a lot of bad feeling over it."

"The fact is that most conservatives, most Republicans don't worship at the altar in New York, and I think that aggravates them more than anything else," said former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican.