WORLD> America
|
WORLD> America
|
|
Obama, McCain both promise change on election eve
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-04 08:05
Obama hoped so, after more than a year building an elaborate get-out-the-vote operation, first for the primary campaign, now for the general election. The Democrat flew from Florida to North Carolina to Virginia, all states that went Republican in 2004, before heading home to Chicago on Election Eve. Twenty-one months after he launched his campaign, he allowed, "You know. I feel pretty peaceful ... I gotta say." On a syndicated radio program, the Russ Parr Morning Show, he said, "The question is going to be who wants it more," he added. "And I hope that our supporters want it bad, because I think the country needs it." If wanting it were all that mattered, the race would be a toss-up. McCain, behind in the polls, set out on a grueling run through several traditionally Republican states that he has failed to secure. Florida, Virginia, Indiana, New Mexico and Nevada were on his itinerary, as was Pennsylvania, the only state that voted Democratic in 2004 where he still nursed hopes. His last appearance of the long day, past midnight, was a home state rally in Prescott, Ariz. Obama has been running television commercials in Arizona in the campaign's final days. The surrogate campaigners included Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democrats and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republicans. Both lost races for their party's presidential nomination earlier in the year, and both could be expected to try again if their ticket loses the White House. Not so, President Bush. Deeply unpopular, the man who won the White House twice was out of public view, an effort to help McCain. Palin was racing through five Bush states Monday -- Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada -- in an effort to boost conservative turnout for McCain. The Alaska governor has been a popular draw for many GOP base voters, and already, there was speculation about a future national campaign should Republicans lose in 2008. Joe Biden, Obama's running mate, campaigned in Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. "We are on the cusp of a new brand of leadership," he assured supporters. Biden didn't say so, but he was as close to guaranteed a victory as any politician in America. Whatever the fate of the Democratic presidential ticket, he was heavily favored to win a new Senate term from Delaware on Tuesday.
|
