I’m in Europe this week (advising pro-Western Iranian and Afghan journalists on how to improve their coverage) and have been watching Super-Tuesday from here, expecting a flood of reaction and interest. So I’m amazed at how little print media coverage there has been today in papers where one would expect otherwise, considering this is the most exciting U.S. election for decades and the result will have more impact then ever on the rest of the world.

Most shocking is The Financial Times (European edition), which has only a single article about the U.S. election – on page 5. Before that, on earlier pages, the FT carries equally long articles about Ukraine, Turkey, Dubai, Chad, Algeria, and so on. Its editorial today is not on the American election, but on the Italian one. None of its comment articles concern the U.S. election. Its two front page photos are not of Obama or Clinton or McCain, but of the “rogue trader” Jerome Kerviel, and of the Iraqi oil minister. There is, however, one headline about the U.S. on page one: it is about U.S. patent laws.

Today’s Wall Street Journal Europe features the U.S. election only on page 3 and reserves the front page for stories about the G7, Spanish employment woes, and so on.

The International Herald Tribune does feature Super Tuesday on its front page, but its main story and photo relate to Jerome Kerviel.

Meanwhile, watching CNN International at the Hotel gym, there was scant mention of the Republican race and one presenter kept on referring to Obama as just “Barack,” becoming misty-eyed as she did so. It seems Obama really has achieved pop stardom, a la Madonna. But there is no talk of just plain John, Mitt, or Mike on CNN.