Democrats Abroad will hold its first-ever e-mail based primary on tsunami Tuesday, for 11 delegates. In previous election cycles, Democrats Abroad had held caucuses. This was unsatisfactory because it basically limited participation to major urban centers where there were sufficient populations of Americans...great if you were in, say, Tokyo or Hong Kong, not so good if you were in Kota Kinabalu. Both the new primary system and the old caucus system require you to swear that you're not going to participate in any U.S. primary by absentee ballot. I should get an e-mail ballot some time before election day. I've not seen any polling on DA leanings yet: If you're a U.S. citizen living abroad, please take the poll in this diary.
There aren't any good figures on American citizens living abroad: the numbers I've heard range from one million to five or six million. The U.S. census doesn't count citizens living abroad, and as were spread out between districts it mans truly lousy services from congressmen and the continuation of the ridiculous system of global taxation (most other countries only tax residents, and Americans abroad receive no services, apart from consular services, which are for the most part fee-for-service). Democrats Abroad does its best, and has actually gained some traction. I believe Republicans Abroad has less say in the party apparatus.
It would be in the best interests of the Democratic Party to look into at least counting overseas residents when it gains control of government: it's only an impression I have, but I reckon that Democrats probably outnumber Republicans abroad 3:2 or 3:1. I've only met a handful of Republicans while abroad, mainly senior executives of the country-club R type, and some military folks (officers, not enlisted.) Ultimately, it would make sense to have seats alloted to Americans living overseas...while this sounds odd to Americans, countries with large diasporas including Italy and Taiwan, have parliamentary seats representing emigrants and their descendants.
In any event, if you're an American living abroad, please take the poll. I've listed the candidates alphabetically.