generalspeaking

President Barack Obama is extending congratulations to rival Mitt Romney “on a spirited campaign.” Obama says he’s “confident we’ve got the votes to win.”

Obama says he knows Romney supporters are “just as engaged, just as enthusiastic.”

While the president has essentially conceded his part in the election is over by heading home to Chicago, Romney has taken a starkly different approach and is set to make two rare Election Day appearances for a presidential candidate.

Obama spoke to reporters briefly after making calls to Wisconsin campaign volunteers Tuesday morning from a campaign office near his South Side Chicago home.
He said he and first lady Michelle Obama were grateful to all of the campaign volunteers who have worked hard on his behalf.

He was greeted by thunderous applause by about two dozen volunteers, many with tears streaming down their face.

During one call, he told a woman: “Hopefully we’ll have a good day.” And he told her to “keep working hard all the way through.”
Romney has been joined by his running mate, Paul Ryan, for a campaign event in Ohio. Romney
will also be campaigning in Pennsylvania later Tuesday.

Both states are considered swing states but polls have consistently given Obama a slight edge. There are few paths to victory for Romney that don’t include winning Ohio.

Polls opened in many states before the sun rose Tuesday and the first important polls will start closing at 7 p.m. with Virginia, followed by Ohio and North Carolina at 7:30 p.m.
Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania all close at 8 p.m.

Romney countered the president’s early voting in Chicago by casting his own ballot this morning in the Boston suburb of Belmont, MA.

“I think you know,” was Romney’s response when he was asked who he voted for.

Romney also suggested Americans could vote the wrong man into office.

“I won’t guarantee that they’ll get it right, but I think they will,” Romney told Cleveland’s WTAM radio when asked if he agreed with former president Ronald Reagan’s assertion that voters always get it right.

Dozens of supporters — young and old, parents and their children — lined Beech Street holding Romney-Ryan signs to welcome the Republican candidate and his wife, Ann, as they pulled onto the property of a picturesque senior’s center to vote in their local precinct.

Lynn Polcari had already cast her ballot here for Romney and was waiting outside — bundled up, Romney-Ryan sign in hand — hoping to catch a glimpse of the man she wants elected president today.

“The economy and jobs are my top priority, and Barack Obama didn’t do a good job improving the economy over the past four years,” said Polcari, who voted for President Obama four years ago. “He’s done nothing to instill confidence in the business community … and I don’t believe that government should be the stimulus for growth.”
Polcari, who waited about an hour to vote at the Beech Street Center early this morning, was drowned out by “Go, Mitt, go! Go, Mitt, go!” chants erupting from the crowd of Romney supporters peppered with a few Obama voters.

Belmont residents Victoria Zarkadas, 12, and friend Christina Noonan, 13, were among those cheering as Mr. Romney’s entourage rolled by, pausing to finish each other’s sentences about why they are rooting for the former Massachusetts governor on this bright but chillingly brisk day.
“We want more jobs in this country,” said Victoria, before Christina chimed in with, “And less taxes.”

Stocks gained steam on Tuesday, with the Dow climbing 1 percent and the S&P 500 on track for a second straight advance, as voters chose the next president.

Trading volume was expected to remain light as investors awaited results of a close race that will set the country’s course for the next four years on spending, taxes, healthcare and other policies.
“I think people are kind of feeling like, ‘Hey, we’re going to have an answer to the election. The uncertainty is still there, but we know that the end is very near,” said Bryant Evans, investment adviser and portfolio manager at Cozad Asset Management, in Champaign, Illinois.

With files from Kathryn Blaze Carlson, National Post