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Obama holds big lead as US holds historic elections

US Democratic Senator Barack Obama stood on the threshold of history yesterday as polls gave him a solid lead over Republican Senator John McCain on the last day of campaigning for the most dramatic US presidential vote in a generation.

But McCain, who has no room for error in the tense battle for a handful of toss-up states, vowed to confound the pollsters and wrench victory from the African-American Obama’s grasp today.

The 47-year-old Democrat stressed the historic nature of his quest to be the US’ first black president, striking an optimistic tone as fresh polls gave him a wide lead and heaped further pressure on McCain.

“This is a defining moment in our history,” Obama wrote in an article published yesterday in the Wall Street Journal.

“Tomorrow, I ask you to write our nation’s next great chapter … If you give me your vote, we won’t just win this election — together, we will change this country and change the world,” he wrote.

McCain was defiant.

“My opponent is measuring the drapes at the White House,” he said, as he wrapped up a frenzied day of campaigning with a midnight rally in Miami.

“The Mac is back! And we’re going to win this election,” he said to deafening cheers.

BLITZ

The Republican was to dash through at least seven states on the marathon campaign’s final day. Obama was to blitz through Florida, North Carolina and Virginia bidding to storm Republican bastions and turn them over to his side.

Rallying supporters in Ohio on Sunday, Obama said his rival’s policies would extend US President George W. Bush’s legacy of financial crisis and “war without end” in Iraq.

McCain also attacked his rival on the economy, in his own Wall Street Journal article.

“Senator Obama wants to raise taxes and restrict trade,” he wrote. “The last time America did that in a bad economy it led to the Great Depression.”

The final pre-election poll of Gallup-USA Today published yesterday gave Obama a yawning lead of 11 points — 55 percent to 44 for McCain.

“It would take an improbable last-minute shift in voter preferences, or a huge Republican advantage in election day turnout, for McCain to improve enough upon his predicted share of the vote … to overcome his deficit to Obama,” the pollster said.

A new Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll put Obama ahead on 51 percent to 43. CNN’s latest poll on Sunday had Obama with a 53 to 46 percent edge.

BATTLEGROUND STATES

Obama leads also in the battleground states where the election will be won and lost, including in states such as Virginia and North Carolina that have not backed a Democratic hopeful in decades.

A separate poll by the Washington Post and ABC said that in six states considered to be up for grabs, support was roughly split with 51 percent support for Obama and 47 for McCain.

McCain’s whistlestop tour yesterday was expected to include campaign stops in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, New Mexico and Nevada before he was to head home to Arizona.

Also See: US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Journalists descend on US for election

Also See: US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Obama, McCain eye potential administration teams
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