Many Americans in the Pacific were glued to television sets Wednesday monitoring the presidential election returns from the United States.

Most of those interviewed seemed pleased that President Bush led his opponent, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, throughout most of the day, even though there was no early clear-cut winner.

The mood at “The Spot,” a Marine Corps Community Services food court on Camp Foster, Okinawa, was upbeat early Wednesday morning as a small group of people watched the results start to come in from the East Coast.

“It looks good for Bush so far,” said Robert Deck, 52, an insurance agent who said he was going to watch the election coverage to its conclusion.

“I’m like everyone else in America,” the Kentucky native said. “I’ve been following this race all year long and I’m going to stick it out to the end. I’m going to take the day off and watch the news.”

Deck, like most others watching the results at the Okinawa food court, said he voted for Bush.

“The main reason is I think he’s been honest the last four years,” Deck said. “I may not like all of what he’s had to say but you know he believed it. It would have been easy for him to change his mind on some issues just to get votes — like Kerry has. But Bush doesn’t play to the voters. He acts on what he believes is right.

“I think his values are strong,” Deck said, adding that he hoped for a clear winner by the day’s end.

“I hope for everyone’s sake we don’t have a repeat of the last election,” he said.

Nearby, retired truck driver Don Page, 71, watched the returns with his daughter-in-law, Kumiko, 33. He said he hoped to watch until someone was declared a winner, but it also was the due date for Kumiko’s baby.

“I’m here for a month to visit my son, Gunnery Sgt. George Page,” said the expectant grandpa. “We both voted for Bush.”

Page is from Harrison Township, Mich., a Detroit suburb.

“We live about 25 miles east of Detroit,” he said. “It’s Bush country. I like what Bush has done the past four years. He’s not been afraid to jump in with both feet and do what’s needed to be done to take care of the terrorists.”

He said his son is due to deploy to Iraq at the end of the month.

“He’s got friends there now who tell him the common people there are generally glad we’re there and got rid of Saddam,” he said.

Close by, Marine Staff Sgt. Thomas Phillips, 30, took a sip of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and watched a few more states go into Bush’s column.

“I think he’ll win,” said the Savannah, Ga., native. “I voted for Bush, for the same reason I would have voted for FDR during World War II. I don’t think it’s a good thing to change commanders in the middle of combat.” Bush, he said, “started it; let him finish it.”

Phillips, assigned to an engineering maintenance company on Camp Foster, had taken the morning off to get his driver’s license. “There’s things about both of the candidates that I don’t like but Bush is probably the lesser of the two evils,” he said. “Republican presidents are generally more favorable to the military.”

He said the race was too close to call. “As long as it doesn’t get decided by the courts, I’ll be happy,” he said. “If Kerry wins, I’ll be disappointed but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”

But not all eyes on Camp Foster were focused on the returns. At the Army and Air Force Exchange and several clubs, the televisions were tuned in to the Houston-Detroit basketball game.

Misawa: ‘We’ve been watching very closely’

Elsewhere in Japan, the televisions were almost all news, all the time.

At Misawa Air Base in northern Japan, most sets, from the base exchange to the enlisted club, were tuned into the election, as servicemembers and civilians paused to watch the unfolding results — some with bated breath.

“We’ve been watching all day. We’ve been watching very closely,” said Tech. Sgt. Lance Hunt, a support section chief for 35th Maintenance Squadron, eating lunch in the enlisted club sports bar. “I think it’s going pretty much as advertised.”

Hunt, from Doe Run, Mo., thought this was the most important presidential election in which he’s voted.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Christina Robinson, of El Paso, Texas, emphatically said she was for the incumbent.

“He’s more military-friendly,” said the quality assurance librarian with Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department on Wednesday morning. “I’m kind of worried because Kerry has five states over on the East Coast.”

P.J. Watson, a dependent, said she and her husband, a technical sergeant at Misawa, also voted for Bush and felt he would win. “So far I’m happy, very happy,” she said at the enlisted club Wednesday afternoon, glancing at the color-coded electoral college map on television that then showed Bush with a slight advantage.

Also watching the election unfold over lunch at the enlisted club was Airman 1st Class Kenneth Williams. Though he didn’t send in his absentee ballot, he said he was rooting for Kerry because of the senator’s views on the economy and the war in Iraq.

“Being overseas, it’s kind of out of sight, out of mind. But my vote was for Kerry, and I know my family is for Kerry,” he said, noting he’s from Philadelphia. “Kerry is for the average, blue-collar person.”

Sasebo: A Brit’s perspective

In southern Japan, David Glazier, an employee with Morale, Welfare and Recreation at Sasebo Naval Base, said early Wednesday afternoon he was trying to keep up with the election news as best he could, despite his work schedule.

“I’m from Oklahoma, and I do know Oklahoma went heavily for Bush, something like 66 percent to 34 percent,” he said. “I was for Kerry, but Oklahoma didn’t go that way.”

Glazier said he hoped the stark political divisions in America would begin to fade. “I think if Kerry wins that could happen, but not if Bush does,” he said.

Inside the Sasebo Navy Exchange, Navy spouses Pamela Correa and Beverley Brinkley stopped shopping long enough to catch up on election news shown on a wall of televisions.

Brinkley is a British citizen. But as a Navy spouse and a citizen of America’s strongest ally, she was well-versed on the issues.

“It does matter to me which one wins,” she said, “but I’m trying to be diplomatic here and not say, because I’m a Navy spouse and because I didn’t vote.”

She did offer some observations.

“I know many of my friends and relatives (in England) are watching closely because of concerns about American diplomacy in the world and how that impacts the European community,” Brinkley said.

“It seems like when it comes to Americans providing help in the world, it’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t. But people still expect America to go into situations and police matters, and give billions of dollars. Yet they get nothing but criticism,” Brinkley added.

Correa said she believed the election would be settled without the confusion experienced in 2000.

“I think it will, and I think that aspect is just something the press has jumped on because of what happened in Florida last time, blah, blah, blah,” she said.

Yokosuka: ‘I’m glad I voted’

Closer to Tokyo, during lunch in Yokosuka Naval Base’s main galley, some sailors sat near the wide-screen TV tuned in to a basketball game.

However, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jan Piere Rodriguez and retired sailor Divino Ranada sat at the far end of the room, riveted to the election coverage, even though it was too early for meaningful results.

“I’ve been watching it since last night,” Ranada said. “The whole world is watching. Europe, the Middle East … whatever happens here, it’s going to affect them.”

Ranada said he had worked hard to vote for his candidate, using a write-in ballot after his absentee ballot never showed up, even though his wife’s did and he’d sent in for them both at the same time and place.

“With the race being so tight, I’m glad I voted,” he said. “I feel really proud about that. The system is nowhere near perfect but it’s one of the best if not the best.”

Rodriguez, too, had followed the campaign news for some time. He said he watched the debates and sent in an absentee ballot to his home county in Florida, although he’s unsure it will get counted. He said the campaign left him with a bitter feeling about both contenders and whether it’s possible to know the truth about their stances on the issues.

“It’s who you hate less — that’s the person we have to vote for,” he said.

South Korea: Supporting ‘whoever is elected’

]In South Korea, U.S. military public affairs officials turned down requests by several news organizations to film or photograph soldiers watching the election returns on base Wednesday. The reason, they said, was to prevent any pictures or video clips from implying the U.S. military endorsed either candidate.

But soldiers approached at off-base locations Wednesday said they were following the results closely.

Pfc. Will Johnson, 21, of West Palm Beach, Fla., with the 102nd Military Intelligence Battalion, said he enjoys what he is doing in the Army and voted for the candidate who supports that.

“I was happy that I made my choice to vote for that person. If people do not vote then what are we fighting for? If they don’t care who leads us wherever we are going, what is the point of having a president?” he asked.

Soldiers in Area I clustered around television sets to watch the election results unfold, said Johnson, who monitored it at the post exchange and in his room before heading out to Uijongbu to meet friends.

He said he kept a close eye on results in his home state.

“Somebody messed up in my hometown last election. It was something big that the whole city took the flak for,” said Johnson, referring to the 2000 controversy over voting procedures in West Palm Beach.

The lesson from last time is that every vote counts, he said.

“It is unlikely, but if it comes down to one vote I wanted to make sure mine counted,” he said.

Others chose not to vote.

Sgt. Justin Morris, 23, of Portland, Ore., of 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, said he thought there was no point in voting since he liked neither candidate.

“I’m going to remain neutral and support whoever is elected,” he said.

Despite not balloting, Morris said, he regarded soldier care as the most important election issue.

Speaking of troops already in or deploying to Iraq, he said, “These are the boys and girls who are going over and dying.”

Staff writers Jennifer Svan, Greg Tyler, Nancy Montgomery, Seth Robson and Joseph Giordono contributed to this report.

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