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Obama Set to Make History in U.S. Pres. Election

Posted November. 03, 2008 08:32,   

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The United States could elect Barack Obama as the country`s first black president Tuesday, with the Illinois senator leading Republican rival John McCain three to 13 percentage points in polls two days before the election.

Obama’s election will write a new chapter in American history as momentous as the Revolutionary War and the emancipation of the slaves.

Even if McCain overtakes Obama in the last minute, the United States is expected to enter a completely new era from that of the Bush administration in diplomacy and domestic affairs. McCain is considered a man firmly rooted in his convictions and is known as a "maverick" for standing up and disagreeing with his party.

The two candidates made their last-ditch appeals to voters in swing states over the weekend.

Obama canvassed in Colorado, Missouri, Nevada and Ohio, promising to bring change in the United States and the world if elected. He will barnstorm Florida, North Carolina and Virginia Monday and hold an event with an expected turnout of one million people in Chicago Tuesday night.

McCain appealed to Virginia voters Sunday to select a candidate capable of handling economic crisis and security challenges. On Monday, he has a rigorous schedule remaining in Florida, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Nevada.

An ABC News-Washington Post poll said that for the first time, more than 50 percent of voters say they will certainly vote for Obama. Even Bush never won more than 50 percent of firmly decided supporters in the presidential preference polls.

The percentage of undecided voters shrank to seven percent. Experts say such floating voters are unlikely to tilt to one side.

The main variables of Election Day are youth votes for Obama and the ”Bradley effect.” Pundits say, however, that the Bradley effect will be smaller than expected. The participation of young voters was also lower than what Obama’s camp expected in early voting.

McCain is urging conservatives to unite, but in the face of the global financial crisis, he has shied away from tackling controversial ethical issues, such as same sex-marriage and abortion, two subjects that were the center of contention late in the 2004 election.



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