Tonight in America will either be the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat for Sen. Barack Obama or John McCain for the American presidency. Commanding a solid lead in all national polls that has held steady since the economic collapse in mid-September, Obama is expected to make a historical triumph. However, not giving up and mathematically impossible for a win McCain prays for a miracle.
After the $5-million advertising buy for a 30-minute infomercial on most of the major television networks late last week, the Obama campaign has dumped millions more into commercials aggressively attacking McCain on the economy and his relationship with President George W. Bush. Obama's latest ad assails McCain for his "association," with Vice President Dick Cheney who happily endorsed McCain over the weekend. Officially tying McCain to Cheney was an easy give-away to Obama who slammed his opponent for supporting Cheney's disastrous foreign policy and unsound judgment about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Republicans murmured and complained behind the scenes. They did not welcome the Cheney endorsement - it came at a bad time. Many wished Cheney would go back to his "undisclosed" location, or remain low-key like Bush has remained completely absent from the political trail. Republicans continue to jump ship and to add insult to injury. Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein has endorsed Obama.
McCain campaign officials cannibalize one another publicly criticizing McCain for choosing Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick. They now call her a "whack job." The most recent embarrassment to Palin was the failure by her campaign allowing two radio talk show hosts pretending to be French President Nicholas Sarkozy speak to Palin by phone on Saturday. The Canadian disc jockeys rambled on for seven minutes with Palin citing the wrong name of the head of state from Canada, stating they could see Belgium from France and even making semi-sexually explicit references to Palin and Sarkozy's wife while Palin giggled through it.
Despite the obvious confusion and buyer's remorse displayed by the McCain campaign, the Obama juggernaut has taken nothing for granted. Actually running a relentless campaign as if Obama were the underdog, an unprecedented 1.5 million volunteers are dispatched throughout the US working in the key battleground states around the clock in places like Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The unpaid helpers are making multiple telephone calls and going door-to-door preaching Obama's message of change to the undecided.
New Hampshire is one of the battle ground states McCain won in 2000 during the Presidential Primary against George W. Bush and again this year to resurrect his candidacy during the Primaries when everyone said it was dead. Today, the McCain office in rural and economically depressed Claremont has one lonely volunteer sitting at a desk. So no one could see him, his back faces the street as he makes one phone call at a time to garner support for McCain.
Across the street, dozens of volunteers flood the Obama headquarters. With signs and much chatter, they file in and out of the office like military troops who have just received their marching orders to stay on the offense for every vote. Nine busloads of McGill University students from Montreal, Canada descended on the small town of 13,000 residents to help shore up an Obama win. Many of the students come from North Africa, India, Europe and Latin America. Although they can't vote or give money, they believe an Obama win will change the world forever.
Over 31 million Americans voted early. Waiting over 5 hours in many instances in lines that stretched a mile to cast their ballot, democracy in America takes on a new meaning. African Americans, independents and youth are expected to make the annals of history voting in record numbers.
Obama has the edge with new voters. McCain leads in absentee ballots. The 2000 election voting debacle between Al Gore and Bush alerted the Obama campaign to leave nothing to chance. They sent thousands of lawyers to Florida and other states that might have voting problems such as voter suppression or voting machines that might "mysteriously" malfunction - switching a vote for Obama to McCain.
Obama like Sun Tzu's Art of War is cautiously optimistic. He has created multiple ways to win this election challenging McCain in states that were seen as Republican. McCain says he likes some people have written him off. He says, he enjoys playing catch up. It seems to be true. He has given his best interviews, speeches and jokes in the last 48-hours. Many feel sad that McCain revels in the one-down position. They know it's too late for him to make any significant change for a win.
- Yvonne R. Davis is a freelance writer based in Connecticut, US. ([email protected])
