From Staff and Wire Reports

In what appears to be a record, Palo Pinto County officials tallied 4,495 ballots cast during the two-week early voting period that ended Friday, an indication that voting turnouts will be as strong locally as are expected today statewide and across the nation.

It’s an election of historic proportions – one in which the nation will either elect the first African-American president in Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, or the first female vice president in Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, running mate of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Texas officials had predicted an early voting turnout of 30 percent, and Palo Pinto County’s early vote appears to be approximately 25 percent of the number of registered voters.

Polls will be open today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Longs line could be long at some the busier polling sites, especially after 5 p.m. People who are in line by 7 p.m. will have the opportunity to vote.

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office projected Monday that more than 9 million Texans will cast ballots in this year’s election. That would be the most Texans ever to participate.

It would represent 68 percent of the state’s 13.5 million registered voters, falling short of the turnout of 73 percent in 1992.

“There is a lot of energy across Texas regarding this election. We have seen it in early voting and I think it will translate into heavy voter turnout on Election Day,” Secretary of State Hope Andrade said.

Texas Democratic and Republican activists hope voting in the presidential races in their parties boost down-ballot candidates.

In the last presidential election, when Republican George W. Bush faced Democrat John Kerry, 7.4 million voters in Texas turned out, or 56 percent of registered voters.

Approximately 3.5 million people cast early ballots in the state’s 15 counties with the largest populations of registered voters, representing 42 percent of those registered there.

Early votes won’t be counted until election night.

The Secretary of State’s Office and local officials reported relatively few problems during early voting, said Randall Dillard, Andrade’s spokesman. A few voters had trouble with the machines and some instructions differed from polling place to polling place.

“Any complaints that we’ve had have been few and far between,” Dillard said. “When you’ve had the turnout we’ve had in the 12 days of early voting, the only real problem that we had has just been large turnout, and that’s not a problem.”

Texas and county voters have several other races of high interest. One involves one of the state’s two U.S. senate seats, in which Republican John Cornyn is hoping to win re-election over Democratic challenger State Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston. Also on the ballot is Libertarian Yvonne Schick.

A number of key congressional district races will be watched closely. In Texas Congressional District 13, which includes Palo Pinto County, Rep. Mac Thornberry is seeking re-election against Democratic hopeful Roger Waun. This is Waun’s second attempt to unseat Thornberry.

While State Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, has been publicly campaigning to become the next Speaker of the House for the past year, he is being challenged for his seat by Democrat and Mineral Wells resident David Shupp, a newcomer to the political scene.

In the county, Republican Bob Manskey is facing Democrat Beth Ray for the Precinct 1 County Commissioner seat. Ray was named the interim commissioner this year following the death of her husband, Ted Ray.

The other contested race involves the Precinct 5 County Constable position that serves primarily Mineral Wells. Democratic incumbent Luis Rodriguez is seeking re-election, facing Republican challenger and current Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Deputy Gary Morris.

The presidential candidates were busy capping a history-making campaign with a dash from Florida through a half-dozen other crucial states as McCain tries for an upset over Obama.

With little sleep, McCain was darting through seven swing states Monday, arguing that victory was virtually at hand despite national polls showing otherwise.

“My friends, it’s official: There’s just one day left until we take America in a new direction,” the Republican Party’s choice to succeed President Bush told a raucous, heavily Hispanic rally in Miami just after midnight.

Obama, comfortably ahead in national polls, got a later start with a rally in Jacksonville at midday and a swing through longtime GOP bastions that might go to his Democratic Party this time.

“I feel pretty peaceful,” Obama said on the “Russ Parr Morning Show.”

“The question is going to be who wants it more,” he added. “And I hope that our supporters want it bad, because I think the country needs it.”

It has been the longest and most expensive presidential contest ever — featuring for the first time an African-American as a major party standardbearer.

Asked in an interview broadcast Monday morning what most displeased him about the nearly 2-year-long contest, Obama cited attacks launched by Republicans against his wife, Michelle.

“There’s a Republican or right wing media outlet ... that went after my wife for awhile in a way that I thought was just completely out of bounds,” Obama said on CBS’s “The Early Show.”

“I would have never considered or expected my allies to do something comparable to the spouse of an opponent,” he added. “They support their spouse, but generally they really should be bystanders in this process, even if they’re campaigning for me. ... I mean that’s what you’d expect. And that doesn’t make them suddenly targets.”

All that’s left now is for the campaigns to make sure people vote, unleashing an unprecedented get-out-the-vote campaigns.

Surrogates for both men, including Democrat Caroline Kennedy and one-time Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, hopped from morning show to morning show urging voters to get to the polls if they haven’t already cast ballots. More early voting is happening than ever, a process that changes the meaning of Election Day somewhat, with some 27 million votes cast in 30 states as of Saturday night. That’s more than ever. Democrats outnumbered Republicans in pre-Election Day voting in key states. political desk

While in some previous elections the incumbent president has served as surrogate-in-chief, Bush is so unpopular that he hasn’t been seen in public, except for climbing on and off helicopters, since a Thursday speech at the FBI Academy. And that won’t change until after Election Day. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the incumbent’s invisibility is by design — because “the Republican Party wanted to make this election about John McCain” — and even understandable.

“We’re realistic about the political environment that we are in,” Perino said. “I’m not saying that he doesn’t recognize that there are people out there who want change, they’ve been looking for something new. ... What keeps him going is knowing that he’s done the right thing.”

All told, the election will have cost $1 billion, and the candidates together will have spent about $8 per presidential vote.

The candidates were sprinting across time zones and states in eleventh-hour bids to get to the magic number of 270 electoral votes — the total needed to seal the presidency.

McCain’s journey stretched from Tampa through Tennessee, whose media market reaches into the much-coveted state of Virginia, which is trending Democratic for the first time since 1964.

McCain also was scheduled to hit Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada before ending early Tuesday with a rally in Prescott, Ariz. He was scheduled to finish the day at home in the Phoenix area.

Obama was in Florida, Virginia and North Carolina Monday.

Both presidential candidates were campaigning part of Tuesday, Election Day. Obama was set to make a quick trip to Indiana before returning to Chicago for a massive rally in Grant Park. McCain planned to attend a rally in Grand Junction, Colorado and visit a volunteer headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M. before returning to Arizona to watch election returns.

McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, was racing through five Bush states Monday — Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada — in an effort to boost conservative turnout. The Alaska governor has been a popular draw for many GOP base voters.

Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate, was to campaign in Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Polls show the six closest states are Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada and Ohio. The campaigns also are running aggressive ground games elsewhere, including Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Colorado and Virginia.

Obama exuded confidence Sunday at events in three cities in the bellwether state of Ohio, which voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004 but is trending Democratic this year as it struggles against an anemic economy.

“We cannot afford to slow down or sit back or let up,” Obama told voters at an evening rally in Cincinnati. “We need to win an election on Tuesday.”

In New Hampshire, McCain held his last town hall meeting of the 2008 campaign — something of an exercise in nostalgia, as he conducted dozens of such freewheeling affairs in the months leading up to his victory in that state’s primary.

McCain took voter questions on issues like illegal immigration and paying for college while thanking New Hampshire for rescuing his campaign in 2008 and in the 2000 Republican primary, when he briefly upended George W. Bush.

“I come to the people of New Hampshire to ask them to let me go on one more mission,” McCain said in Peterborough, where he was introduced by Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.

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Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report from Cincinnati. Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report from Washington.