Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Never mind that the French can't vote in the U.S. elections next week. That hasn't stopped them from participating -- in their own way.

Catherine Meyer, a French artist who works under the name Kaetsche, is displaying a painting entitled ``Happiness,'' featuring Democratic candidate Barack Obama's laughing face floating on a sky-blue background at an art gallery near Bastille in central Paris.

``It's the image I have of him as I close my eyes to go to sleep,'' Meyer said.

An overwhelming majority of French people would vote for Obama if they could, according to a poll this month. Across France, interest in the elections has soared as people say the choice of the U.S. president will affect them, personally and, increasingly, financially as the economic crisis spreads. The CSA telephone poll, conducted on Oct. 1 and 2, found that 93 percent of the French supported Obama and that 77 percent said the election would be ``important'' for the world.

In Val de Reuil, in western France, the town erected a 22-by- six-meter billboard two months ago with an image of Obama and the ``Yes, We Can'' slogan.

``We have 58 nationalities in this community, and the billboard is to say `Integrate, work, and you too can succeed,''' Mayor Marc-Antoine Jamet said in a telephone interview yesterday. ``We have American factories here, so it's to say raise your head, look, America affects us. And we are in Normandy, liberated by the U.S. We have a great debt.''

Just days before the Nov. 4 vote, the 47-year-old Illinois senator is ahead of his Republican rival John McCain, 72, in most U.S. national polls amid voter anxiety over the economy.

McCain Burger

In Paris, meanwhile, the Concorde La Fayette hotel, near the Champs-Elysees, has tweaked its menu for the elections, with the cuisine vote swaying in McCain's favor. The Elephant Burger loosely made after a McCain-themed lamb sandwich is more popular than the O'Burger's curry and shrimp inspired by Obama's Hawaiian childhood. The bar has tracked orders since September, with the Elephant in the lead, 104 to 64, Sylvie Nuza, a spokeswoman for the hotel, said on Oct. 27.

Eight thousand French people have signed onto the French Support Committee for Barack Obama, said Samuel Solvit, a 22-year- old economics student who formed the group late last year.

``Our goal is absolutely not to influence the American elections,'' Solvit said this week. ``It is to help the French follow the elections, to make them understand how important it is to be aware, because the results will have an impact here.''

French interest in the elections, with radio and television programs devoting hours of coverage to the vote each day, has also spurred Americans in Paris to be more involved.

Sculptures, Paintings

Connecticut native Dorothy Polley, who left the U.S. after the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, runs the gallery where Meyer is displaying her Obama painting.

``It seemed to me that the French were extremely, extremely interested in him, who he is, how he could incite such emotion and fidelity in the U.S.,'' Polley said. ``It made me want to do something, too.''

She contacted artists including French cartoonists at publications such as Charlie Hebdo and Canard Enchaine as well as Edward Koren of The New Yorker magazine, for contributions.

Within 20 days she'd assembled works by 30 international artists inspired by the Democratic presidential candidate. ``Barack Obama in Paris'' opened on Oct. 3 with sculptures, paintings, sketches, and reproductions, as well as t-shirts, books, pins, and posters, for prices ranging from 3,500 euros ($4,600) to 7 euros.

Polley has hosted speeches on the vote and a fundraiser. Samuel Legitimus, a French stage director, said he came ``out of curiosity.'' By electing Obama, ``maybe the U.S. can show the world how to really live as a multiethnic country,'' he said.

At Harry's

The financial and economic crisis that's touching many people in France -- which may have slipped into its first recession in 15 years in the third quarter -- is also making people pay more attention to who's elected in the U.S., said Marc Porter of Republicans Abroad France.

``The financial crisis has deepened interest as most people seem to think it began in the U.S.,'' he said.

Meanwhile, at Harry's Bar, which serves American-style cocktails near the Paris Opera, a straw poll with 10 euro drinks inspired by the candidates is on the menu. Both are made with Ballantine's whisky. McCain's has fig liqueur, lemon juice and soda, while Obama's cocktail has cherry liqueur and grapefruit juice.

The straw poll has been conducted in every election since 1924, except during World War II, and was wrong twice, with Jimmy Carter's election in 1976 and in 2004, when George W. Bush was re- elected. In the voting, limited to Americans who present their passports, Obama led McCain 187 to 137, as of Oct. 29.

To contact the writer on the story: Heather Smith in Paris at hsmith26@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 30, 2008 20:15 EDT