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The most expensive and longest presidential campaign in history ends Tuesday with the race focused on a handful of battleground states and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Democratic nominee Barack Obama arrives at Election Day leading in almost every poll and electoral-vote count. His final days on the campaign trail were marked by enthusiasm and surging confidence.
John McCain, trailing badly in the final stretch, will abandon his normal superstitious routine and campaign in Colorado and New Mexico after voting in his home state of Arizona, rather than heading to the movies, as he usually does on the final day.
Obama’s plans remained unclear as of Monday night, subject to sudden change following the death of his grandmother earlier in the day.
McCain blitzed through swing states Monday, seeking his greatest-ever comeback in a political environment deeply hostile to Republicans after eight years of President Bush, two wars and a financial collapse that sent the Arizona Republican’s campaign reeling.
His seven-state tour included stops in Florida, Tennessee near the Virginia border, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada before heading home to Arizona in the early morning hours. Of these, only Pennsylvania went blue in 2004, and it’s the state McCain is depending on, despite polls showing Obama leading there.
McCain and his campaign sought to retain optimistic faces befitting their declaration in recent days that “Mac is back.”
Despite tightening polls, Obama led or was tied in almost every critical state. McCain appeared to be running out of time.
Obama spent Monday campaigning in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, three states that voted Republican four years ago but look ripe for the picking by the Democrat.
Obama’s staff said repeatedly that the Illinois senator would compete in states where Democrats had not played in years, and as voters go to the polls, Obama is in a position to get to 270 electoral votes with several combinations that would have seemed unthinkable four years ago, when Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) sweated out the results from Ohio.
Already, millions of votes have been cast in early and absentee voting, and most reports give Obama the advantage in early tallies. But both campaigns predicted record turnout numbers on Tuesday. The McCain campaign projected up to 135 million votes; the Obama campaign said that number is too low.
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