Barack Obama and John McCain faced the verdict of Americans voting on Tuesday after a long and bitter struggle for the White House, with Obama holding a decisive edge in national opinion polls.
A record 130-million US citizens or more were expected to vote on a successor to unpopular Republican President George Bush. The winner will set the US course for the next four years to tackle the economic crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a healthcare overhaul and other issues.
Long lines of people waited to vote at some polls in battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. Polls close in parts of Indiana and Kentucky at 11pm GMT and over the following six hours in the other 48 states and the District of Columbia.
Obama (47) a first-term senator from Illinois, would be the first black US president. Opinion polls indicate he is running ahead of McCain in enough states to give him more than the 270 electoral votes he needs to win.
A victory for McCain (72) would make him the oldest president to begin a first term in the White House and make his running mate Sarah Palin the first female vice-president.
McCain’s hopes for an upset rest on a tightening trend seen in some polls last week, or the possibility that all the polls have overestimated Obama’s support.
World stocks rose to a two-week high and US stocks gained with major indices up more than 2%, as investors looked with relief to the end of the campaign.
Analysts have said market prices probably already reflected expectations of an Obama victory. But if Democrats tighten their control of Congress, it may be easier for the new administration to deal with the financial crisis.
Opinion polls showed Obama ahead or even with McCain in at least eight states won by Bush in 2004, including the big prizes of Ohio and Florida. Obama led comfortably in all of the states won by Democrat John Kerry in 2004.
In Ohio, Ian Edwards said he voted for Obama.
”Very simple,” the chief executive of a small technology company said. ”Bad war. Bad economy. Bad reputation overseas.”
Jerry Fritsch, in Scottsdale, Arizona, said he has nephews serving in the US Marine Corps and he picked McCain for his military policies. ”I don’t want anybody who is going to screw with the Marine Corps heading up our main office,” he said.
The race was closely watched around the world, including in Kenya, where in Obama’s late father’s village of Kogelo, residents prayed for his presidential bid and for his maternal grandmother, who died in Hawaii this week.
Campaign themes
Obama and his wife, Michelle, voted at his Chicago polling station accompanied by their two daughters. Poll workers and voters snapped pictures and cheered. ”Voting with my daughters, that was a big deal,” he said.
Obama then made a final campaign stop in Indianapolis, visiting a union hall to thank members and making several phone calls to voters. He later planned to play basketball in Chicago with friends and staff before watching election returns.
McCain, an Arizona senator, voted near his Phoenix apartment before final stops in Colorado and New Mexico. He will then return to Arizona.
Seeking the biggest upset in modern politics, McCain said he was gaining. ”We’re going to work hard until the polls close,” he told CBS television.
The candidates hammered their campaign themes in the final hours, with Obama accusing McCain of representing a third term for Bush’s policies and being out of touch on the economy.
McCain, whose campaign has attacked Obama as a socialist and accused him of being a ”pal” with terrorists, portrayed him opponent as a tax-raising liberal. But McCain has struggled to separate himself from Bush in a difficult political environment for Republicans.
Victories in any of the traditionally Republican states where polls show Obama is competitive, including Virginia, Colorado, Indiana and North Carolina, would likely propel him to the White House.
Obama took command of the race in the last month as a deepening financial crisis reinforced his perceived strengths on the economy and in three debates.
Democrats are also expected to expand majorities in both chambers of Congress. They need to gain nine Senate seats to reach a 60-seat majority that would give them the muscle to defeat Republican procedural hurdles.
That would raise pressure on Democrats to deliver on campaign promises to end the war in Iraq, eliminate Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy and overhaul health care. – Reuters