Khawaga - yes i did vote, but as i mentioned before, i didn't vote for her because i personally felt closer to issues that were being dealt by other candidates.

deepb - i think its a matter of perception, when she said that "she had to return to this desert hell", i looked at in terms of her being modern independent arab woman trying to make a mark for herself in a male dominated conservative society. i am not arab, nor a woman, but wht i can say is that women even in western societies still face the glass ceiling and constraints in many aspects of life, so you can only imagine how difficult it must be for her. i might be completely wrong, since i don't know this person, but thats the way i interpreted her statements. Hell can mean different things for people. i hate hate certain things that happen india, which is my hell, but i love the country and the principle it was set up on. basically wht i am trying to say is that, hatred for ills in your culture and hatred for your country are two different things.

at the end of the day, the vote is not for patriotism, its for the what she is doing for her cause.