Bob Gebhardt, 63: chairman, Republicans Abroad Switzerland

Bob Gebhardt has been involved with the Swiss branch of Republicans Abroad for the past decade. Politics remains one of the hobbies of this former commodity trader alongside golf. Many Americans tend to look at the candidate more than the party ticket and Barack Obama's CV looks on the short side, he says. Bob Gebhardt recently took up golf but admits that one of his main hobbies is politics - or at least reading a lot and staying informed about the political process, especially in the United States. The 63 year-old has been involved with Republicans Abroad for 10 years. He became chairman of the Swiss branch after George W. Bush was re-elected US president in 2004.

The Republican party’s Swiss section has 200 active members, but this tends to vary around election time. According to Gebhardt, US nationals living in Switzerland broadly reflect the American population as a whole. “A few people sign up and wear the button, but a vast majority look first at the candidate in any election, rather than just voting the ticket,” he says.

People who are ardent Republicans, therefore, don’t always vote for the party's candidate. “As the current US president’s popularity has gone down we’ve seen a number of voters who have stopped supporting Republicans Abroad or been less involved, not wanting to adhere to anything indicating they are supporting the president,” he says. “But during this election, many who are not the card-carrying Republicans, have also been excited and interested in John McCain.”

Bob Gebhardt has a background in commodity trading and has lived in Switzerland for over 20 years. He originally moved here with a multinational company, which is today part of the Glencore group. He went his own way as a management consultant when he moved to Lugano in the southern canton of Ticino, a town he says offers him a good lifestyle.

“People like George Clooney can come up from Como and do their shopping!” he jokes. Genhardt enjoys the nice weather. The fact that it is close to Italy also suits his wife, an Italian,  who, he says with a smile, sometimes tends to be the most right wing in the household.

Along with the rest of the family, Gebhardt's grown-up children have always had an active interest in politics, but also other subjects like the arts and literature. “I am very happy to say we are able to maintain a conversation on a lot of different topics and probably have bigger debates on cultural issues, rather than politics,” he adds.

Will his children vote Republican? “They have been exposed to all points of view, perhaps more to left wing acadaemia, but I don’t feel responsible for their political views and suspect that they will vote Republican in the next election.”
With opinion polls favouring Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama, Gebhardt is realistic about John McCain's chances of success. But he underlines the issue of experience. “It’s clearly an uphill battle and has been from the beginning, and it’s not a foregone conclusion," Gebhardt says.
“But as we get closer to election day, the voter will be forced to decide between John McCain who has a lifetime of service to the country, and Barack Obama who, let’s face it, has a much shorter CV”.