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WORLD> America
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Obama and McCain await voters' decision
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-05 06:36 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 accused Obama of being a "pal" with terrorists, portrayed him 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 Obama 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. |
