McCain, Obama make last campaign sweeps before election day

Despite lead in polls, Obama urges supporters not to 'slow down, sit back or let up'

Last Updated: Monday, November 3, 2008 | 5:28 PM ET

CBC News

Voters wait to cast their ballots in early voting in Grand Forks, N.D., on Monday. (Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald/Associated Press)

U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama staged a last campaign blitz throughout the country on Monday as polls continued to show the Democratic senator with a solid lead one day before the election.

Neither candidate was leaving anything to chance, as both prepared to buck tradition and also campaign on election day.

Taking an average of polls from media outlets and polling companies, the political website RealClearPolitics said Obama, 47, has a lead of more than six per cent over McCain, 72. The results vary, with the split between the two as low as three per cent in one poll and as high as 13 per cent in another.

Despite being favoured to recapture the White House for the Democrats, Obama told a fired-up crowd of supporters in the key state of Florida on Monday that they cannot afford to "slow down, sit back or let up" a day before having the opportunity to vote for change

“I just have one word for you, Florida: Tomorrow,” the Illinois senator told a rally in Jacksonville. "Tomorrow, at this defining moment in history, you, each and every one of you, can give this country the change that we need."

Later in the day, Obama announced that his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise him in Hawaii, had died of cancer. He choked up during an appearance in North Carolina on Monday night as he talked about her death.

In a joint statement with his sister, Obama said Madelyn Dunham was "the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength and humility."

'We will win,' McCain tells supporters in Florida

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain, right, arrives for a midnight campaign rally in Coral Gables, Fla., Monday. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

McCain planned to travel to seven states, almost all traditional Republican turf, that could swing Obama's way this election. The Arizona senator also began his final push in Florida, before heading to Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico and Nevada.

With the exception of Pennsylvania, all these states had been won by President George W. Bush in the 2004 election. But polls indicate Obama has a slight lead in several of them, including Florida with its 27 electoral votes.

"With this kind of enthusiasm, this kind of intensity, we will win Florida and we will win the election," McCain told a rally of about 1,000 people in Tampa.

Obama was to head to events later in the day in Virginia and North Carolina. Virginia and North Carolina, traditional Republican bastions, are now Democrat-leaning, an indication some say of the uphill battle McCain is facing.

Meanwhile in the battleground state of Ohio, McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, told a boisterous audience at a rally in a Cleveland suburb and traditional Democratic stronghold that "victory is coming."

"Do you share our commitment and can we count on you tomorrow, Ohio?" she asked the Lakewood crowd, which responded with a "We will win!" chant.

Long lines for early voting

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama walks to his car after arriving in Jacksonville, Fla., early Monday. (Jason Reed/Reuters)

On election day, McCain has scheduled campaign stops in Colorado and New Mexico before heading to his home state of Arizona. Obama was set to make a quick trip to Indiana before returning to Chicago for a massive rally in Grant Park.

About 27 million absentee and early votes were cast in 30 states as of Saturday night, more than ever. Democrats outnumbered Republicans in pre-election day voting in key states.

Some early voting centres across the U.S. have seen massive turnouts, with voters forced to wait in long lines for hours.

In Columbus, Ohio, the spokesman for Franklin County, Michael Stinziano, said people started lining up at the early voting centre at 6:30 a.m., even though voting did not begin until 1 p.m.

"I think it is fair to say that we had a four-hour line before we opened the doors," Stinziano said in an e-mail to CNN.

At least 130 million Americans are expected to cast votes for a successor to Bush who will set the country's course for the next four years on the economic crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an overhaul of the health care system and other key issues.

The first polls begin to close in parts of Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday; the last polls close in Alaska at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday.