LONDON -- The London weather -- like the U.S. stock market -- has been highly variable. Bleak. Bright. Rainy. Sunny. Cold. Colder. It's been amazing to watch what's been labeled the "U.S. banks crisis" play out here. Brits were near to panicked over the Bear Stearns troubles and sale and their potential blowback on the world's markets. It's a perspective that I never fully understood, while viewing the economic turmoil in the California sunshine.

Sure the subprime mortgage crisis was worrisome -- but in a self-contained sort of way. It was all about us. But not here. There seems to be as much coverage of the States' economic trials in London's tabloids and broadsheets as I encountered at home -- if not more. And as much anxiety -- if not more.

Britain has already had a taste of the U.S. predicament. Late last year, Northern Rock, one of the top five mortgage lenders in the United Kingdom, was forced to ask the Bank of England for a loan; the firm was having liquidity problems because of banks' nervousness over America's economic troubles. Depositors' fears basically caused a run on Northern Rock (at one branch two disgruntled customers barricaded the bank manager in her office, when she refused to let them withdraw £1 million from their account.) It's a headache the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, doesn't need; as in the States, polls show that voters are down on their economic future and have little trust in the incumbent administration to deal with the economy's ills.

It's not news that the Brits, by and large, do not think much of the American President, George W. Bush. Brown, too, is suffering in the polls. He's described as "dithering," even slow. Simon Hogart , in the Guardian, portrayed Brown's discussion of the economic crisis as "a stream of gabbled, even gobbled, jargon." At one point in Commons debate, Brown referred to the Czech Republic as "Czechoslovakia," prompting a Tory MP to ask, "Following the PM's reference to Czechoslovakia -- obviously a faraway place of which he knows little -- do we know if he gets his foreign affairs briefings from the president of the United States?"

The Brits' dissatisfaction with their leadership -- and ours -- is one reason the whole country seems fascinated by our 2008 Presidential race. There appears to be a strong preference for Barack Obama among Britons -- except among some Blairites, who have met or known Bill and Hillary Clinton for a long time, and who are lining up behind the New York Senator. Conservatives, somewhat unenthusiastically, prefer John McCain.

As Obama's French publisher told the International Herald Tribune, "Obamania is becoming a reality in Europe." I can tell you this much, Obama is well ahead in the "Chelsea Caucus." And on a trip to the Westminster Book Shop, a stone's throw from Parliament, an unscientific survey revealed that Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, was far outselling Carl Bernstein's book on Clinton, Woman In Charge. The Independent puts the Obama book first on its list of top "Politics and Current Affairs" books.

Obama has certainly captured the media's fancy. His recent speech on the race issue was headline news. Reviews were generally good. Independent columnist, Matthew Norman, called the event "something unforgettable and potentially transformative." The Times of London's theatre critic gave the Obama "oratory" a five-star rave, anointing it "a presidential performance." The Times has, on occasion, come close to looking like an Obama campaign broadsheet -- although on Friday it devoted one quarter of a page on the post-speech Gallup poll which shows Obama hurt by the controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "Obama support dribbles away," the Times headline blared, "over refusal to denounce pastor."

There's fund raising going on among the U.S. expats on all sides. Senator John McCain arrived in London on Thursday to meet with Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown (they bonded on climate change, if not Iraq) and Tory Leader David Cameron (whom Mc Cain has called "the Tory JFK") -- the better to highlight McCain's global experience. These meetings, of course, were followed by a fundraising lunch costing £500 a plate, held at Spencer House -- built by the family of Princess Diana. Although barrels of ink have been drained to cover the riveting Democratic contest, the Mc Cain visit finally brought coverage of the presumptive GOP nominee in the British media. And not all of it was what Mc Cain was aiming for. He was greeted not only by Brown and Cameron, but by articles highlighting Wednesday's foreign policy gaff. Mc Cain misspoke, claiming, incorrectly that Al Qaeda was training in Iran and had to be quietly corrected by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), one of his traveling companions. In both in England and the States, that stumble muddled Mc Cain's message of foreign policy experience.

Questions about Mc Cain's age and stamina persist. A Times interview with the Senator was introduced with this description: "In his London hotel room, without the thick make-up which often masks the cancer scars on his face, he seems pale -- utterly exhausted -- almost frail."

But on Thursday Mc Cain was greeted by cries of "There's the next President of the United States" from the Tory side in the House of Commons; for U.S. consumption, he was photographed with Brown in front of that famous 10 Downing Street front door and, with Cameron, in the shadow of Big Ben (again pitching McCain's status as a world player.)

The "change versus experience" debate infusing Presidential politics in the U.S. is echoed in the current London Mayoral race. It's been "billed as the most exciting electoral battle of 2008 (bar a certain little contest under way across the Atlantic)," by Times commentator, Jonathan Freeland.

The incumbent, Ken Livingstone -- once called "Red Ken" and tossed out of the Labour Party because of his radical views -- is now the establishment! Running for a third term as London's Mayor –with a decent record on environmental and transportation issues, Livingstone is back in the arms of the increasingly unpopular Labour government (which needs to hold London in the run-up to inevitable national elections in the next couple of years); he's even been endorsed by Brown, a long time, bitter political foe, whom Livingston once slammed as unfit for his (then) office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. The motto of Livingstone's top opponent, Conservative MP Boris Johnson is, "Time for a change." (How original!); he's betting that Londoners, in Freedman's words, are "sick of Labour." "Boris" has been dubbed the "Teflon" candidate, whose "persona…deflects all attempts at regular political scrutiny."

In the run-up to the May 1st election, Johnson has a 12 point lead over Livingstone in the polls. And the mud has begun to fly.

Yes, I slipped off to London for a respite from classes and campaigns. But there's one thing that's clear; in both Britain and the U.S., there's no Spring Break from politics this year!

For those of you who are interested in how our British cousins view our Presidential race, check out these web sites (among others):

• TimesOnline.co.uk
• Guardian.co.uk
• Independent.co.uk
• News.bbc.co.uk

To contact Sherry, you can email her here.

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