AMERICANS WILL vote for a new president today after almost two years of intense campaigning that have seen the candidates spend $1 billion (€790 million) and engendered more excitement than any election in a generation.
John McCain pushed through seven states in a punishing 20-hour journey yesterday, seeking to confound the polls and most political analysts with an upset victory today.
Barack Obama made a final sprint up the east coast, addressing crowds in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, all states won by President George Bush in 2004. In a statement last night the Democratic candidate announced that his grandmother had died of cancer, a little more than a week after he interrupted the White House campaign to say goodbye to her in Hawaii.
The latest polls showed Mr Obama holding on to a comfortable national lead but races in some battleground states appeared to be tightening, notably in Florida and Virginia.
"The pundits may not know it and the Democrats may not know it, but 'the Mac' is back," Mr McCain told supporters in Florida. "We're going to win this election." Mr Obama said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the election, adding that he believed his campaign had done everything it could to make victory possible.
"I think that if we work hard, if people go out and vote in the way I know is possible, then I think we have a good chance of reversing eight years of a mismanaged economy and really start helping people get on their feet again, and that's what this election's all about," he told radio host Ed Schultz.
The challenge facing Mr McCain was clear from his campaign itinerary yesterday, with all but one of his stops in states won by Mr Bush last time. The exception was Pennsylvania, a state no Republican has won since 1988 but which Mr McCain sees as the key to victory today.
If the Republican holds Ohio, Florida and Virginia and picks up Pennsylvania, he could win a narrow victory even if Mr Obama picks up some states Mr Bush won in the west and southwest. Mr Obama's campaign believes he has a number of paths to the 270 electoral votes he needs to win today, and the Democrats have used their fundraising advantage to run sophisticated voter turnout operations in key states.
While campaigning in Florida yesterday morning, however, Mr Obama warned supporters against putting too much faith in polls and becoming complacent. "Don't believe for a second this election's over," he said.
"We're going to have to work like our futures depend on it for the next 24 hours - because it does. At this point, I've made the arguments. Now it's all about who wants it more, who believes in it more."
The Republican ticket kept up their attacks on Mr Obama yesterday, with Mr McCain predicting the Democrat would drive the economy deeper into crisis by raising taxes. "Senator Obama's running to punish the successful," he said.
"I'm running to make everyone successful. This is the fundamental difference between Senator Obama and me."
Campaigning in Missouri yesterday, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin warned that, if Democrats controlled the White House and both houses of Congress, they would slash the defence budget and endanger national security. "Do they think the terrorists have all the sudden become the good guys, and changed their minds?" she asked.
Americans will also vote today in congressional elections, with one third of the seats in the Senate and every seat in the House of Representatives up for grabs.