Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Long lines of voters formed outside of polling places this morning as Democrat Barack Obama sought to hold off an upset bid by Republican John McCain and become the first African-American candidate to win the U.S. presidency.
Energized by a two-year, history-making campaign, voters began showing up in the middle of the night to cast ballots. Lines were particularly long in Virginia, which could be a harbinger if Obama becomes the first Democrat since 1964 to prevail in what was the seat of the Old Confederacy.
Even before polls opened across the nation, Obama had won the nation's earliest contests, capturing the usually Republican northern New Hampshire villages of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location.
``We're voting in a historical time,'' said Lashawne Jenkins, 40, a catering manager who was among more than 100 people awaiting the opening of a polling station at Bethel African Methodist Church in Detroit. ``You should be ashamed if you don't vote.''
The scene outside the Detroit church was repeated across the country. More than 150 were lined up outside a polling place in Fairfax County, Virginia, before voting began, and 75 people waited to cast ballots at John Oldham Elementary School in Norwood, Massachusetts.
Obama, who opened his candidacy 22 months ago where Abraham Lincoln gave his ``House Divided'' speech, closed his historic campaign near the site of the Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War. He thanked his supporters at a 90,000- person rally in Manassas, Virginia.
`Hope for the Future'
``You've filled me with new hope for our future, and you've reminded me about what makes America so special,'' said Obama, who received word yesterday that his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died at age 86 after a battle with cancer.
Encouraging voters to not let up before the polls close, Obama revived a chant he used throughout the primaries though rarely in the general election: ``Fired Up, Ready to Go.''
Obama voted at Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School in his Hyde Park, Illinois, neighborhood at 7:54 a.m. He missed bumping into his neighbors and 1960s radicals Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, who showed up to vote a few minutes earlier.
The McCain campaign has made Obama's ties to Ayers an issue, with vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accusing the Democratic standard-bearer of ``palling around with terrorists.''
McCain was behind in polls nationally and either trailed or was in a close fight in a dozen states won by President George W. Bush in the last election. Still, he sought to keep his supporters energized.
Seeking Momentum
``We're going to win,'' he told a crowd of about 1,500 people yesterday at the airport in Indianapolis. ``We've got the momentum.''
McCain planned a rally in Grand Junction, Colorado, today before returning to Phoenix, Arizona, where he will watch the election returns. Alaska Governor Palin will fly from her home to join him in Phoenix.
Obama travels to Indiana today for a final campaign stop before heading back to Chicago for an outdoor election night party in Grant Park. Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden will join him there after attending a rally in Richmond, Virginia.
The last of the pre-election polls released yesterday all showed Obama holding the lead even as McCain closed the gap in several states. Obama held an average lead of 7 percentage points in a dozen polls that concluded interviews on Nov. 2.
Battleground States
In state polls, Obama led in the battlegrounds of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. All except Pennsylvania went for Bush in 2004. The two candidates were in a closer fight in Florida, North Carolina and Indiana, three more Republican states in the last election.
Virginia's polls close at 7 p.m. Washington time in the first wave of states to finish.
In Vienna, Virginia, Hal Corby, a retired registered Republican, cast his ballot for McCain, saying he saw no reason to change the state's traditional voting pattern.
``I don't trust the other guy,'' said Corby, 69. ``McCain will hold down spending and Obama won't.''
Another Vienna voter, Jim Whitcomb, a 59-year-old government employee and registered Democrat, said the Republicans under Bush for eight years have mismanaged the economy at home and alienated allies abroad.
``The country is a mess and it's because of the Republican Party,'' said Whitcomb, who voted for Obama. ``The U.S. is really going off on its own in the wrong direction with virtually no friends in the world.''
Northern Virginia
Several other voters in northern Virginia, which has fueled recent Democratic wins in the state, said Obama had their votes.
``We may need to secede from the rest of Virginia,'' joked Obama supporter Brad McAdam, 35, of Alexandria. ``They don't like the way we vote.''
In North Carolina, Obama supporters came out early to vote.
Marcus Farmer, who didn't vote four years ago, showed up at 6:25 a.m.
``I regret not voting four years ago,'' said Farmer, 31. ``I'm really tired of George Bush.''
Figures show almost a third of ballots in the presidential race already have been cast, which may have eased waiting times today. At Renfroe Middle School in Decatur, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, Devery Gauthier, 45, only had to wait 20 minutes.
``I am shocked it was so short,'' said Gauthier, a corporate treasury manager at Global Payments Inc., who voted for Obama.
Last week, some Georgia voters waited an hour and a half to cast ballots.
In the first votes cast on Election Day, Obama defeated McCain 15 votes to 6 in Dixville Notch, according to the Associated Press, and by 17 votes to 10 in Hart's Location. By tradition, polls in both towns open at midnight local time. The two hamlets, with a combined populated of more than 100 people, generally lean Republican.
To contact the reporters responsible for this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington
Obama pobjednik u Dixville Notch-u, sto je obicno dobar indikator, s obzirom da je to konzervativno selo u New Hempshiru 
Sa obzirom da znam kakvim se idealima vodi ovaj gore sto je dao ovu izjavu i otvoreno poziva na nasilje protiv onih koji se od njega razlikuju samo zato sto imaju ljepsu boju koze 
