Americans vote in historic election

Millions of Americans are voting Tuesday in a presidential election that would write a new chapter in the nation's political history no matter who wins. All indications are that Barack Obama will move into the White House on January 20, 2009 as the 44th president of the United States, the first African-American to hold what is undoubtedly the most powerful position in the world.

On the other hand if John McCain wins, he would be the oldest man to take the presidential oath of office for a first term. And he would add another first - the first woman to become vice-president.

The world is watching closely and every poll has pointed to an Obama victory. And Americans are saying the only matter to be decided is how big the victory would be and whether it would be a landslide.

The American political system is different from the Westminster style of Parliamentary democracy that's well-known in Canada and Trinidad and Tobago. In the U.S. the winner of the popular vote doesn't necessarily win the presidency. The critical issue is how many electoral college votes the candidate captures. The winner needs a minimum of delegates 270 of the 538.

But all states are not equal. Some have more delegates on the electoral college, which is why the two candidates invested large sums of money in what's called "battleground" states where the delegate count is high.

At the start of the campaign both Obama and John McCain were the underdogs. On the Democratic side, the clear favourite was Hillary Clinton, the New York Senator who had spent eight years on her husband's side when he was president; few people knew Obama's name.

But the rookie Illinois Senator was determined to carry his message of hope and change all the way and Clinton soon saw her support fading. In the end she conceded the nomination to Obama and both she and Bill Clinton endorsed Obama.

For the Republicans, there was no clear favourite in the primaries. John McCain's campaign had suffered a near-death experience, but the former POW and popular "maverick" kept the flame lighting. And he won an easy victory.

But he immediately ventured into uncharted territory for the Republicans. In a move many saw as an attempt to woo disenchanted female voters from the Democratic side, he named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

The Republicans had never gone that far, historically keeping white middle-aged men for the top posts. The Democrats experimented with the idea 28 years ago when Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as the first female vice presidential candidate in U.S. history. The Mondale-Ferarro ticket was drowned the Ronald Reagan political tsunami.

Palin turned out to be a bad choice and the Mc Cain campaign started to sputter.

On the Democratic side, people were starting to pay more attention to the young senator who chose Joe Biden, one of the most experienced men in foreign affairs in the U.S. political establishment, as his running mate.

Then the U.S. financial meltdown injected itself into the campaign turning the principal issue away from the individuals and focusing it on the economy. "It's the economy, stupid," was the line that took Bill Clinton to the White House in 1992. And Obama seized on it, hoping that it would do the same for him.

McCain was severely bruised on the economic issue, having boasted that Obama had got it wrong and that the fundamentals of the economy were strong, despite the signs to the contrary.

But there were other factors that hurt the Republican campaign. Palin turned out to be a disaster and it soon became clear that she was a charlatan not only on domestic affairs such as the economy but also on global issues. Then the self-proclaimed "hockey mom" and grassroots champion spent $150,000 on a campaign wardrobe. A local scandal in Alaska exposed her as a person who abused her authority.

In desperation the McCain campaign attacked Obama for "palling around with terrorists" and a socialist could not be trusted with the economy. Some supporters in the Republican bible belt called him a dangerous Muslim and others wondered whether he was even an American.

Obama remained on message - Change we can believe in, hope for a better tomorrow. He insisted that only he could restore America's image in the global community. He pledged to cut taxes for everyone earning less that a quarter million dollars a year and promised to hunt down America's principal enemy, Osama Bin Laden, and kill him. And he told Americans he would end the war in Iraq.

By the end of the campaign America's mood had changed. And even staunch Republican voters were saying it was time for a change. For McCain, the one endorsement he had avoided all through the campaign finally came last week - from Vice President Dick Cheney. It was a gift to the Obama campaign.

But with all the stars lined up in Obama's favour no one is calling the election yet. The one nagging fear that political commentators have is this: will Americans really vote for a black man?

While the polls answer with a resounding yes, some pundits say the moment of decision would be in the privacy of the voting booth.

Obama doesn't share that view. He said in Florida last week and again in Ohio Monday that he trusts the American people. And he hopes that trust would take him to the White House and usher in a new era of hope and change.