Obama, Romney tie as campaigns end

President Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney are tied going into the final hours of tomorrow’s presidential election.

At the weekend, they went on a last-minute push for votes in swing states in what is pointing towards becoming the most keenly contested election in U.S history.

An opinion poll yesterday for ABC News and the Washington Post put the candidates at 48%.

Voters who term themselves independents are split evenly on 46%.

Mr Romney remains favoured in the whites, seniors and evangelical groups; Mr Obama in women, non-whites and young adults.

Mr Obama remains slightly ahead in most of the nine-or-so swing states that will determine the election.

Opinion polls published on Saturday showed him well-placed in Iowa, Nevada and Ohio, but most remain within the polls’ own margins of error.

The election is run, using electoral college. Each state is given a number of votes based on its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral college votes becomes president

Speaking to BBC correspondents two voters echoed the country’s split on the candidates.

Defence contractor Derek Maddox said: “I’ll be voting for Mr Romney… At least he has a plan, for turning the economy round and getting jobs. He’s proved he can do it many, many times.”

Retired teacher Anita Hildegren, a registered Republican, said she would vote for Mr Obama: “Maybe not everything got done, but a lot…”

At the weekend, Romney campaigned in Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Obama was in New Hampshire, Florida, Ohio and Colorado.

Both candidates addressed large rallies

Both Obama and Romney are showing signs of exhaustion as they continue their daily, multiple-state visits to attract any undecided voters in the marginal battleground states that will determine the winner.

Former President Bill Clinton was also suffering as he joined Mr Obama in Virginia, addressing the rally in hoarse tones, saying he had “given my voice in the service of my president”.

Mr Obama told the 24,000 people in Bristow, Virginia, that the planning and organisation of his campaign now no longer mattered.

“The power is not with us anymore, the planning, everything we do, it doesn’t matter. It’s all up to you, it’s up to the volunteers… you have got the power. That’s how democracy is supposed to be.”

At Mr Obama’s rally in Milwaukee, pop star Katy Perry, wearing a dress emblazoned with the Democratic slogan “Forward”, helped warm up a 20,000 crowd.

Mr Obama told them not to allow Mr Romney to return the US to a time when Wall St had “free rein to do whatever” it liked.

Campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday, Mr Romney criticised Mr Obama for saying that voting would be their “best revenge” on the Republicans.

“Vote for revenge? Let me tell you what I’d like to tell you: Vote for love of country. It is time we lead America to a better place.”

Later, in Colorado Springs, the Republican challenger told supporters that Tuesday’s election would be “a moment to look into the future, and imagine what we can do to put the past four years behind us”.

“We’re that close right now,” he said. “The door to a brighter future is there.”

The BBC’s Bridget Kendall, in the bellwether state of Ohio, says the campaigning there has been at its fiercest. No Republican has ever been elected president without first winning Ohio.

But, she asks, when there has been so much pressure on people to vote early and when all but a tiny fraction of likely voters have made up their mind, how much difference will all this frantic last-minute campaigning have?