Joe Kunkel has been following politics for decades, and the Minnesota State University political science professor believes the 2008 election was the most important of his lifetime.

But don’t ask Kunkel what he was thinking when Barack Obama was projected as the winner. Don’t ask what was going through his mind when the first black president-elect gave his victory speech to a throng of cheering, sometimes sobbing, supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park.

Kunkel was sound asleep.

“I like to get my five hours of good sleep,” Kunkel said, laughing.

The problem was the time difference. In America, the election was decided early and the speech came well before most folks’ bedtime.

In Nuremberg, Germany, on the other hand, the polls were still open in America when 1 a.m. rolled around and Kunkel decided he’d better get some sleep. He had spent the previous evening participating in panel discussions at the local university — conducted in the midst of an American-themed election party — and had a string of lectures ahead.

“That took the ultimate amount of self-restraint,” Kunkel said of his decision to not turn on the TV when he got back to his hotel room after 1 a.m. local time. “I was afraid I would have got roped in and started watching.”

As hard as it was for him to close his eyes as the historic campaign reached its conclusion, Kunkel said the opportunity to spend the election in Germany was an extraordinary one.

It came about on short notice when professor Andreas Falke was visiting MSU in late September. Falke, who teaches politics at Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg, spoke to one of Kunkel’s MSU classes. There was a reception that night.

“About 9 o’clock in the evening, he said, ‘What are you doing on election night?’ I said, ‘I’m usually on KTOE talking about county commissioner races.’ ”

Falke offered an alternative — spending election week at Friedrich Alexander, talking to students and community members about the American presidential and congressional campaigns.

“It sounded too good to be true,” Kunkel said.

It wasn’t. Most of the expenses were covered by the German university. Kunkel arrived Nov. 1 and quickly found his audience wouldn’t be bored by the topic of his lectures.

“They’re very, very excited about the American election over there.”