-
Related
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain took their final shots at each other and swept across battleground states to wrap up a US presidential campaign in which Obama was leading but McCain hoped to pull off a historic upset.
After campaigning for almost two years, the candidates were running on adrenaline, buoyed by big crowds and preparing to end up in their home states - Obama in Illinois, McCain in Arizona - to await Americans' judgment on Tuesday.
Huge challenges are in store for the winner, including restoring
growth to the sagging U.S. economy, fighting wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, getting a handle on a budget deficit running close to
$500 billion and restoring the luster of the world's lone
superpower.
Interest in the election to determine a successor to unpopular
President George Bush was high. Millions of Americans had already
voted early and election officials were bracing for long lines at
polling stations. A record turnout, easily eclipsing the 2004 vote
total of more than 121 million, was possible.
The candidates began the last day of campaign 2008 in Florida,
scene of the famous 2000 recount battle that Bush won and a state
McCain needs to stave off defeat. McCain was hitting seven states
in 22 hours in a last-ditch marathon.
Illinois Senator Obama, 47, who would be America's first black
president, rode his message as an anti-Bush change agent and was
sailing along with the lead in national opinion polls and in many
swing states that will determine the outcome.
Obama, who was also campaigning in North Carolina and Virginia, said in Jacksonville: "I have just one word for you, Florida: Tomorrow."
"In these last 36 hours, we can't afford to slow down or sit
back or let up, not one minute, not one hour, not one second. Not
any time in the next thirty six hours," he said.
He said McCain could point to a few instances where he broke with
Bush but "when it comes to the economy, when it comes to the
central issue of this election, the plain truth is that John McCain
has stood with George Bush every step of the way."
McCain, faced with the herculean task of extending Republican rule
of the White House for a third straight term with the current
incumbent's unpopularity draped on his shoulders, was hoping for a
miracle finish.
'Measuring the drapes'
"The pundits have written us off just like they've done before and
my opponent is measuring the drapes in the White House," McCain
told a spirited rally in Tampa, Florida. "The pundits may not know
it and the Democrats may not know it, but 'the Mac' is back. We're
going to win this election."
McCain, 72, who would be the oldest person ever elected to a
first presidential term, accused Obama of wanting to raise taxes to
pursue liberal policies.
"He's in the far left lane of American politics and he's stuck
there," McCain said in Blountville, Tennessee. He had stops planned
in Pennsylvania, Indiana and New Mexico as well.
In a sad development, Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died of cancer on Monday in Hawaii. Obama had gone to visit her last month. "She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility," he said in a statement.
The two-year campaign, which has been estimated to cost $2
billion, will extend even into Election Day. McCain will make stops
in Colorado and New Mexico after voting in Arizona.
Obama will make a final plea for votes on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Usually a solid Republican state, Indiana is flirting with Obama
this year.
Americans will vote in what amounts to 51 separate elections in
each state and the District of Columbia. Each state is allocated
electoral votes based on the size of its representation in
Congress. Whoever gets 270 electoral votes wins the White
House.
While Obama has many combinations of states that he can use to get
to 270, McCain's path is narrow. He has been mostly racing around
states Bush won in 2004 trying to defend them while hoping to nab
traditionally Democratic Pennsylvania.
Karl Rove, the Republican strategist who masterminded Bush's
election victories, said on his website that based on his review of
the polls, Obama could win with 338 electoral votes to 200 for
McCain, the largest electoral margin since 1996.
In Congressional elections on Tuesday, Democrats appeared poised to
make gains in their majorities in both the US House of
Representatives and the Senate. All 435 House seats are at stake
and 35 of the Senate's 100 seats are up for election.
