Obama, McCain both promise change on election eve

Videos
Photos

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-04 08:05

US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama greets a supporter during a rally in Jacksonville, Florida, November 3, 2008. [Agencies]

TAMPA, Fla. – Barack Obama radiated confidence and John McCain displayed the grit of an underdog Monday as the US presidential rivals reached for the finish line of a two-year marathon with a burst of campaigning across battlegrounds from the Atlantic Coast to Arizona.

"We are one day away from change in America," said Obama, a Democrat seeking to become the first black US president -- a dream not nearly as distant on election eve as it once was.

McCain, too, promised to turn the page of the era of George W. Bush, and he warned about his opponent's intentions. "Sen. Obama is in the far left lane" of politics, he said.

Late-season attacks aside, Obama led in virtually all the pre-election polls in a race where economic concerns dominated and the war in Iraq was pushed -- however temporarily -- into the background. By their near-non-stop attention to states that voted Republican in 2004, both men acknowledged the Democrats' advantage.

The two rivals both began their days in Florida, a traditionally Republican state with 27 electoral votes where polls make it close.

Obama drew 9,000 or so at a rally in Jacksonville, while across the state, a crowd estimated at roughly 1,000 turned out for McCain.

Previous page 1 2 3 Next Page