Bush's last day: President George Bush went on a last sweep through battleground states yesterday urging get-out-the-vote efforts in his race with Democrat John Kerry.
"I'm asking for your help, and there's no doubt in my mind, with your help we will win Ohio again and win a great victory," he told a crowd of supporters in Wilmington.
He attended an early morning rally at a Wilmington airport hangar before thousands of cheering supporters. Mr Bush won Ohio in 2000 but 230,000 job losses since then have put the state in play.
It was the first stop on a 16-hour sweep through the swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico. He was due to conclude his last minute push today in Dallas.
"On to victory!" Mr Bush told the Ohio crowd.
In a trimmed stump speech, Mr Bush played up his strength in fighting the war on terror, vowing to "use every asset at our disposal" to protect Americans. "I will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes," he said, days after the release of a videotape from Osama bin Laden.
He hammered away at Mr Kerry as a man who would raise taxes on all Americans to pay for ambitious spending plans and who has been "consistently wrong" on national security decisions for the past 20 years.
"Ultimately this election comes down to, who do you trust? Who do you trust to make the tough decisions? Who do you trust to lead this country to a better tomorrow?" he said.
On the Iraq war, Mr Bush said the situation was dangerous, but "think how far that society has come since the days of torture chambers and mass graves. There will be presidential elections in January. I believe every soul desires to be free."
After voting in Crawford, Texas, Mr Bush was likely to make at least one stop on the way back to Washington today to exhort his supporters to the polls on election day.
With him in Wilmington was a World Series hero, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.
Mr Schilling said Mr Bush would lead the fight against terrorism and support US troops in combat. "Those troops deserve all of our support and all of our thanks. There's something else we can do for them. We can make sure we elect the president, who supports them every step of the way."
Mr Bush told NBC News on Sunday he hoped the winner, "whichever one of us wins," will be known on Tuesday night to avoid a bitter recount battle like he had in 2000.