UK's Brown finds U.S. presidential race fascinating

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday he found the U.S. presidential campaign fascinating ahead of meetings with the three candidates.

Brown, who has scheduled separate sessions with Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, would not say which politician he hoped would end up succeeding President George W. Bush after the November election.

"These are decisions for the American people," Brown said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." He added, "What's fascinating about the campaign in America is the level of interest."

Brown, on a three-day visit to the United States, said all three presidential candidates wanted to deal with climate change and wanted to build a stronger international economy.

The three candidates have made climate proposals that go far beyond Bush's policies, including a cap on industrial carbon dioxide pollution and an emissions trading system similar to the European Union's.

Environmentalists say a new president, armed with the right policies and a cooperative Congress, could make Washington a leader in talks to form an international climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which goes through 2012 and which the United States has not ratified.

Brown, who will meet Bush after seeing the presidential candidates, was expected to discuss the economy and the Iraq war with him.

Brown predicted a closer link between Europe and the United States regardless of who wins the upcoming election.

"It's partly because the divisions within Europe over Iraq will come to an end," he said, noting the new leaders in Germany, France and Italy were more in favor of a "very strong" trans-Atlantic relationship.

(Reporting by Deborah Charles, editing by Vicki Allen)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/ )