Editor’s Note: The Selective Echo welcomes once again Mark Alvarez, who’s been living in Mexico with his wife since last summer. He’s offered an interesting perspective on how the outside media are looking at Super Tuesday’s results.

In an increasingly interconnected world, “all politics is local” needs revision. As Mormons have united in support of Mitt Romney, the international media has focused on the U.S. presidential primaries.

The British Broadcasting Corporation covered Super Tuesday as a top story: “Tied U.S. rivals fight for momentum.” Delegate totals and vote percentages figured in the story. The BBC reported that McCain sparked Republican angst, but the compelling story is on the Democratic side.

Spain’s daily newspaper El Pais asked, “What happens now?” Can anyone answer? Given delegate arithmetic and the elimination of Michigan and Florida delegates from the Democratic primary, it appears that neither Senator Obama nor Senator Clinton can accumulate the winning number based solely on state voting.

Spain’s ABC reported that the Clinton-Obama duel moved millions of voters to participate and that the Democrats fought vote by vote on an historic Super Tuesday. On a humorous note, ABC suggested that Los del Rio of “La Macarena” fame are working on a theme that would be dedicated to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. Can you remember the 1996 Democratic convention and Al Gore gyrating to the beat?

In Mexico, Reforma, Milenio, El Universal and other dailies covered Super Tuesday on the front page. Reforma had three opinion pieces on the race and five pages of coverage in “International” (Utah readers might be stunned, but, yes indeed, papers do have such sections, even in Mexico). McCain has strengthened his position. The Democratic race will continue for some time. Reforma opined that with the victory in California, Senator Clinton gained a slight edge. While I lean ever so slightly toward Clinton, I disagree with that assessment.

In Spanish papers of Mexico, Spain and elsewhere, journalists emphasize the growing importance of the Latino vote. One bluntly pitted the Latino vote against the African-American vote and noted that Clinton won one and Obama the other. Journalists in Mexico seem sympathetic toward Clinton. Her comment in the most recent debate about working with “our friends to the south” helped. While Senator Clinton is wrong to oppose driver licenses for undocumented workers, she speaks well about resolving immigration challenges and working toward a better world. Senator Obama does as well but with less detail. The Republicans seem to want to follow Tom Tancredo back to the tradition of Pat Buchanan and David Duke.

Barring a major miracle, the next U.S. President will be a septuagenarian, an African-American or a woman. Latino voters likely will play an important role. International media will cover the local races, and I’ll root for strong performances by an African-American and a woman.