Obama and McCain ready to make history as voting continues in U.S.

U.S. presidential candidate Obama cast his vote at a polling station in Chicago in Tuesday's historic U.S. elections.

 

In a historic vote that could make him the first black U.S. president, the Hawaii-born Illinois Senator, joined by his wife Michelle Obama and his young daughters Sasha and Malia, was greeted at a Chicago polling station in a school gymnasium by dozens of reporters and photographers.

 

Obama, who is leading McCain in national polls, showed his daughter his ballot and smiled as he cast his vote.

 

Americans go to the polls in what is already one of the most historic elections in U.S. history, as the world holds its breath.Â

 

More than a third of the electorate will have voted before polls open Tuesday, U.S. media reported. Â

 

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, could be the nation's first African-American president. Or Republican nominee Sen. John McCain could be the oldest president elected to a first term.

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McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, could be the first woman elected vice president.Â

 

Americans also are expected to head to the polls in record numbers on Tuesday, election officials have predicted -- after a record-shattering number of people cast ballots in early voting.

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As of Monday, more than 24 million Americans had voted. Election experts predicted more than a third of the electorate will have voted before polls opened on Election Day.

 

LATEST ATTEMPTS

Obama and McCain will continue campaigning even as Election Day dawns and voters head to the polls.

 

Obama will make another run at flipping the reliably Republican state of Indiana into the Democratic column after voting this morning near his home in Chicago.

 

McCain will vote in Phoenix then campaign in New Mexico and Colorado, two states that voted for Republican President George W. Bush in 2004 and where polls show Obama has the advantage.

 

After 22 months of stumping across the country, Obama had a single message on election eve.

 

"I have just one word for you, Florida: tomorrow," he said on Tuesday in Jacksonville; Florida, is a key swing state in the elections. "Tomorrow, at this defining moment in history, you, each and every one of you, can give this country the change we need."

 

McCain, behind in the polls nationally and trailing or in a close fight in a dozen states won by Bush in the last election, sought to keep his supporters energized.

 

"We're going to win," he told a crowd of about 1,500 people yesterday at the airport in Indianapolis. "We've got the momentum."

 

OBAMA LEADS POLLS

The last of the pre-election polls released Tuesday all showed Obama holding the lead in the race even as McCain closed the gap in several surveys.

 

Obama held an average lead of 7 percentage points in a dozen polls that concluded interviews on Nov. 2.

 

A CBS News daily tracking showed McCain gaining 4 percentage points among likely voters, narrowing Obama's advantage to 9 points from 13 points.

 

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey shows Obama leading 51-42 percent, the same margin as two weeks ago.

 

A Washington Post/ABC News daily tracking poll put the race at 53 percent support for Obama to McCain's 44 percent, a margin that has remained steady for two weeks.

 

Marist College's national survey showed Obama ahead of McCain 52 percent to 43 percent.

 

The smallest margin was in an Investor's Business Daily/TIPP poll which showed Obama ahead by 5 percentage points.

 

In state polls, Obama leads in the battlegrounds of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. All except Pennsylvania went for Bush in 2004. The two candidates are in a closer fight in Florida, North Carolina and Indiana, three more Republican states in the last election.

 

FIRST VOTES

The first votes in the election were cast in the two northern New Hampshire villages of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, with a combined population of a little more than 100 people.

 

Obama defeated McCain 15 votes to 6 in Dixville Notch, according to the Associated Press, and by 17 votes to 10 in Hart's Location.

 

By tradition, polls in both towns open at midnight local time. The two hamlets generally lean Republican. In 2004, Bush beat Democratic Senator John Kerry 35 to 21, though Kerry won the state.

 

Obama, who opened his candidacy where Abraham Lincoln gave his "House Divided" speech, closed his historic campaign near the site of the Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War. He thanked his supporters at a 90,000 person rally in Manassas, Virginia.

 

"You've filled me with new hope for our future, and you've reminded me about what makes America so special," Obama said.

 

Encouraging voters to not let up before the polls close, Obama revived a chant he used throughout the primaries though rarely in the general election: "Fired Up, Ready to Go."

 

Earlier on Monday, Obama got word that his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died at age 86 after losing a battle with cancer.

 

MOST EXPENSIVE CAMPAIGN

The 2008 presidential election has proved to be the most expensive. Obama repeatedly shattered fundraising records by soliciting donations over the Internet.

 

As of Monday, Obama had raised more than $454 million, compared with the $230 million raised by McCain.

 

Obama -- who decided to forgo federal campaign financing, and thus spending limits -- used his financial advantage to outspend his opponent on television advertising by almost 2-1.

 

By the end of October, Obama's campaign had spent more than $292 million on campaign advertising, compared to the nearly $132 million spent by McCain, who accepted federal campaign financing.

 

Obama had enough left in the bank to buy time on several networks Thursday night for a muscle-flexing, prime-time 30-minute campaign ad.Â