ANGERS, France — The euro waxes, the dollar wanes, yet when it comes to making democracy exciting, DollarLand beats EuroLand hands down. That much was demonstrated by the rapt curiosity about Super Tuesday and its aftermath shown by global news outlets such as BBC World, France 24, Al Jazeera English, Deutsche Welle, Sky News, and our very own CNN International — the American network only Americans abroad get to watch, though that doesn’t mean you can avoid Wolf Blitzer.

Predictably, the excitement abroad has been almost entirely propelled by the Democrats and the presence of two politicians of whom Europeans, among others, can approve as they famously do not approve of the current occupant of the White House. In this sense, Hillary Clinton appears broadly EU in outlook (Angela Merkel with a Hollywood makeover), while Barack Obama comes across, for those so inclined, as thrillingly borderless — a limber, smiling representative of no-nation globalism whose tobacco-cured voice and Kennedy-esque body language make the world swoon.

As a correspondent for Britain’s Sky News put it while standing in Times Square, if foreigners are enthralled by this election campaign, it is due to personality differences more than ideology, and most of all to the fact that a black man or a white woman may soon occupy the White House. Also providing thrills is the sinister but snowballing meme that other countries have a moral “right” to vote in American elections since American actions have such an effect on the rest of the globe. But since they are unable to do so, they can at least watch and perhaps even sway American opinion through sheer force of numbers.

Should that be the case, there isn’t much doubt that perfumed winds will be blowing in Mr. Obama’s direction. On CNN International, Asia correspondent Angeli Rao followed a report on “Obamamania” among teenage girls in Japan by commenting, as she moved on to the next segment, that “unfortunately, there’s no Obama in World Sport.” Sad but true. Until Mr. Obama signs up with Manchester United, we’ll just have to content ourselves with duffers such as Eli Manning, Tiger Woods, and Roger Federer.

Sadly, there are fewer differences between the various global news outlets than one might expect. Like the old joke about the Indian restaurants on East Sixth Street — that they all share one giant kitchen — it sometimes seems as though television news reporters all come out of the same factory. A while back, Richard Porter, head of news for BBC World, told me that even France 24, the latest condo on the global news block, essentially “has the same agenda and production techniques as other international news channels” despite its greater focus on French concerns.

Nonetheless, styles and preoccupations vary somewhat. Sky News plies tabloid journalism, while BBC World prides itself on bringing more in-depth coverage than CNN International, even if half the reporters on CNNI are ex-BBC anyway. The reporters on France 24 are more likely to focus on policy differences separating the American candidates, while also showing a very French appreciation for Mr. Obama’s “lyricism.” (What strikes one most about France 24 is its eye-scaldingly bright blue and white sets, which look as if they were designed for a detergent commercial.) Politically, Al Jazeera English, where Dave Marash plays the American wise man, veers furthest left. Anyone to the right of Senator McCain (i.e., most of the Republican Party) is likely to be referred to as “far right” or “ultra right.”

As for the original Al Jazeera, not being an Arabic speaker I can’t say much about it. But I did tune in for three minutes on Super Tuesday and was able to recognize a handful of words. They included “McCain,” “Vietnam,” “Yehudis” (Jews), and, if I’m not mistaken, “Norman Podhoretz,” whose face was superimposed, unless I was hallucinating, on the image of an American flag with a Star of David superimposed on top of that.

Two days after Super Tuesday, BBC World interrupted regular programming to bring its viewers the entirety of Mr. McCain’s speech before the CPAC. This was commendable, but the discussion that followed was a disappointment. The senator insisted that the upcoming election would be “about big things, not small things,” and eloquently espoused a host of conservative ideas that underlined, pretty starkly, the differences between himself and either of his possible opponents (Governor Romney had yet to duck out).

The speech’s content was only of passing interest to the BBC World commentators, despite being studded with remarks that could have sparked hours of debate. Their main preoccupation was the senator’s age. “The fact is that this man, should he become president, will be 72 years old,” a 50-ish anchorman sputtered mildly in an impeccable Oxbridge accent. He then added that the Republican had been born in — gasp! — August 1936, though he failed to provide us with the exact day, hour, and star sign.

As analysis, it was only slightly more profound than the segment on CNNI in which a Chinese soothsayer was called upon to discuss the candidates’ physiognomies. Result: Mrs. Clinton good, Mr. Obama better, Mr. Romney “complicated,” Mr. McCain unhealthy (white as well black hairs in his eyebrows).

Viewing television coverage of the elections abroad, it seems clear that many people around the world still hope that America, a country they frequently claim to despise, will provide them with a paradigm of deeply longed-for political leadership and glamour. When French President Nicolas Sarkozy married supermodel Carla Bruni recently, his countrymen went into a collective snit and demanded that the hardest working man in politics forget about their beautiful new first lady and work even harder. Yet they love to watch Mr. Obama smile.

bbernhard@earthlink.net