Presidential marathon hits finish line today

Go ahead and let out a sigh of relief: The longest presidential election campaign in history is in its final hours.

Sometime tonight or early tomorrow, the world will learn whether U.S. voters elected the nation's first African American president, Democrat Barack Obama, or instead defied late polls by giving Republican John McCain the greatest comeback since Harry Truman's in 1948.

Reflecting a political climate hostile to the GOP, Democrats also seem poised to solidify their majorities in both houses of Congress.

The presidential contenders scrambled across the country yesterday in the last stretch of a two-year race that has cost an estimated $1 billion, each seeking a last-minute advantage.

During a grueling, 18-hour sprint across three time zones, McCain made stops in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania (at Pittsburgh International Airport), Indiana and New Mexico, with rallies in Nevada and his home state of Arizona planned later in the evening.

"The pundits may not know it and the Democrats may not know it, but the Mac is back. We're going to win this election," McCain said in Tampa, Fla.

For his part, Obama touched down in northeastern Florida, Charlotte, N.C., and Manassas, Va., before heading home to Chicago. North Carolina and Virginia traditionally have backed Republicans in presidential elections, but polls show them within Democrats' reach.

"This is going to be close all across the country," Obama told a rally that attracted 9,000 people in Jacksonville, Fla. "We're going to have to work like our future depends on it in the next 24 hours, because it does."

On a somber note, Obama announced yesterday afternoon that his grandmother, 86-year-old Madelyn Dunham, had died peacefully in her sleep Sunday night in Hawaii. Dunham raised Obama while his mother was overseas.

In Pennsylvania, voters will decide contests for state attorney general, treasurer and auditor general, as well as several competitive races for the U.S. House of Representatives. All 203 seats of the state House are up for election, as are half those in the state Senate.

New Jersey voters will settle a U.S. Senate race between incumbent Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Dick Zimmer, a former House member from the state.

There also is a close-fought race in the Third Congressional District between State Sen. John Adler (D., Camden) and Medford Mayor Chris Myers, the GOP nominee. They are vying to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton (R., N.J.) in a district that includes Burlington County and parts of Ocean and Camden Counties.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in New Jersey and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Pennsylvania.

Interest in the presidential race has been intense, and experts are predicting as many as 135 million voters nationwide will go to the polls, a record (122 million voted in 2004).

Election officials in the Philadelphia region (and nationally) were bracing yesterday for long lines and possible chaos at polling places.

Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter held a news conference to urge employers to give workers time throughout the day to vote, to avoid the typical bunching up of voter traffic early in the day and in the evening hours after work. They noted that there are 300,000 newly registered voters in Philadelphia alone.

Rendell said Pennsylvania's voting system was designed to handle turnouts of 65 percent at most, but he predicted that as many as 80 percent to 85 percent of registered voters might show up today. He warned voters to expect delays, especially during the peak hours.

"This is an important election," Rendell said. "If you have to stand in line . . . hang in there."

Three longtime congressional incumbents in working-class districts in Pennsylvania were fighting for survival.

Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, a 12-term Democrat from the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, faces a GOP rising star, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who has made a national name crusading against illegal immigration.

In northwestern Pennsylvania, in and around Erie, Rep. Phil English, a seven-term Republican, was threatened by Kathy Dahlkemper, an antiabortion Democrat and business owner.

In Western Pennsylvania, one of the most powerful Democrats in the House, 17-term Rep. John P. Murtha, found himself in a tougher-than-expected race after saying in a newspaper interview that many of his constituents might not vote for Obama because the region is racist. He apologized for the remark, then told another reporter that the area had been "really redneck" in the past.

Republican William Russell, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, moved to the district to run against Murtha after the latter, a Marine veteran, emerged as a leading critic of the Iraq war.

Both major-party contenders for the vacant treasurer's seat hail from Montgomery County. Venture capitalist Rob McCord, the Democrat, is counting on his 15-1 fund-raising edge to beat Republican bond lawyer Tom Ellis, a former county commissioner.

Incumbent Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican former U.S. attorney for Western Pennsylvania, is facing Democrat John Morganelli, the Northampton County district attorney.

State Auditor General Jack Wagner, a Democrat, faces a challenge from Republican Chet Beiler, a Lancaster County businessman running for public office for the first time.

Also on today's statewide ballot in Pennsylvania is a referendum seeking voter approval for a $400 million bond issue to help pay for repairs to local water and sewer systems.

What's on the ballot across the nation beyond the presidential race:

Senate

Voters in 33 states will choose 35 senators, 33 of them for six-year terms.

In Mississippi and Wyoming, special elections will fill the remaining four years in seats now held by gubernatorial appointees. Democrats, with the help of two Democratic-leaning independents, now hold the Senate majority, 51-49.

House

Ballot measures

- Associated Press

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