Obama memorabilia for sale on 125th st. in Harlem. (Reuters).

By Keith B. Richburg | Washington Post
NEW YORK — On the main commercial streets of Harlem, black America’s cultural capital, the vendors’ tables are stacked Barack Obama T-shirts and buttons. Some with his face. Some with his wife, Michelle. Some with Obama juxtaposed next to the image of Martin Luther King.

The vendors don’t seem to be doing much business; in Harlem, it seems, almost everyone is already sporting an Obama button or shirt.

There is a heady air of anticipation in Harlem. Metal risers have been set up for a huge outdoor celebration outside the federal building named for Harlem’s other political icon, the late congressman Adam Clayton Powell.

And many Harlemites, who lined up early to vote, say they believe this will be a day of divine reckoning.

“He was divinely sent,” said 66-year-old Wayne Tyree, who was wearing a dozen Obama buttons on his cap and another pinned to his lapel for good measure. He said Hurricane Ike, which disrupted the Republican convention, and the financial collapse were all part of a divine plan. “Everything fell for Obama,” he said.

Tyree added, “I’m 66 — I’ve been waiting for change all my life.”

“He’s another Martin Luther King,” said 75-year-old Mary Wallace, who got up early to vote when the polls opened. “God is good,” she added.

Henry Greene, 83, came to New York from North Carolina in 1946. “I can remember black people wasn’t allowed to vote,” he said, after casting his vote early for Obama. “Black people were just as good as white people, they’re just as smart as white. But they never had a chance to prove it.”

Greene said he never dreamed he’d see a black man as president, but added, “I’m just about to see it.”

Harlemites noted that another of their own, David Paterson, this year became New York’s first black governor. “Just like our governor now,” Greene said. “I never thought I’d see that either.”

There was also a small amount of apprehension. “I’m worried about Pennsylvania. And I’m worried about Florida,” said 86-year-old Millard Paul.

Paul was seated on a park bench, leaning on his cane, reflecting. “I’m just sitting here thinking about Obama being president and how it’s going to be,” he said.

By Aaron Brilbeck | NBC 24

TOLEDO, OHIO – Toledo police are gearing up for possible “Civil unrest” during and after tomorrow’s elections.

In an internal memo obtained exclusively by NBC 24 News, officers are ordered to “Have their riot equipment with them Tuesday and Wednesday”. Police chief Mike Navarre confirms, officers will have gear similar to the equipment they used during the 2005 race riots. “They have been asked to have their helmets and their gas masks available tomorrow and Wednesday.”, Navarre says, “That’s the equipment they would not normally carry with them on a normal day”.

Navarre also says, officers will not be stationed at individual polling stations. But the memo says otherwise. It reads, “On Tuesday, units shall be directed to patrol the polling locations”.

Fox 29

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania is of vital importance to Sen. John McCain. But the numbers in the commonwealth are making things more difficult for the Republicans than what they experienced four years ago.

The voter registration numbers have shifted dramatically since 2004, especially in the Philadelphia region, Fox 29’s Bruce Gordon reported.

A county-by-county look at the changing nature of the electorate shows that a lot of red has become blue.

In Bucks County, there were more registered Republicans than Democrats four years ago. Now, there’s a small margin for the Democrats.

Montgomery County was solidly red in 2004. But since then there has been a huge increase in Democratic registrations and a drop in Republican registrations. It’s now blue.

In Chester County, what had been a 75,000-voter margin for the GOP is now just a 25,000-Republican advantage, so they’re still in control but it’s much closer than it had been.

And Delaware County shows the same trend. It’s still red, but change since 2004 has resulted in lots more Democrats and fewer Republicans.

Finally, Philadelphia for years has been reliably blue. But since 2004, 153,000 new Democratic registrations, along with a small drop in those identifying themselves as Republicans. The result is an overwhelming advantage for the Democrats that will allow Sen. Barack Obama to win Philadelphia by a huge margin.

If Obama plays to a tie in the suburbs around Philly, he could win Pennsylvania by capturing only a handful of its 67 counties.

It’s a huge, uphill battle for McCain in Pennsylvania, Gordon reported.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Democratic Sen. Barack Obama flew to Indianapolis late Tuesday morning to make some last-minute phone calls to voters.

Obama arrived at Indianapolis International Airport around 10:30 a.m. and headed to a nearby United Auto Workers Local 550 “Get Out the Vote” call center. He stayed there about 45 minutes and made 13 phone calls.

Obama then planned to return to Chicago to play a voting-day game of basketball with friends and staff – a habit he liked to stick to in the primaries for good luck – before watching returns at a hotel room.

After the race is called, he planned to address supporters from a stage built especially for the occasion in Chicago’s Grant Park.

Polls showed Obama and Republican John McCain to be in a dead heat in Indiana as the election neared. Democrats hope to claim their first presidential victory in the state since Indiana chose Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

According to the State Board of Elections, 30 to 40% of registered voters cast their ballot by 10 a.m. When the number of absentee voters are added to the mix, 50% of registered voters have voted.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — It’s Election Day, and Virginians have a huge say in the outcome. Democrat Barack Obama could be the nation’s first black president; Republican John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, might be the first female vice president.

For the first time in memory both parties made a battleground of Virginia, where no Democrat for president has won since 1964. Polls show a close race with Obama slightly ahead.

Polling places open at 6 a.m. They close at 7 p.m., but those in line by then can vote. The disabled can vote curbside from their cars.

About half a million Virginians have voted absentee, double the total four years ago.

And watch for dirty tricks. Officials say deceptive phone calls seek to mislead voters about their polling places.

Amy Dominello | WJBF-TV

The days of the solid Republican South may be ending. Not only are Barack Obama and John McCain battling over Virginia and North Carolina, some polls show the presidential race also is close in Georgia, a scenario considered unthinkable earlier this year.

Incumbent Republican senators in Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina are struggling. And throughout the South, Democratic candidates are making inroads.

Political scientists say several demographic changes are at play, newcomers moving to parts of the South have changed its political landscape as has the anticipated swell of young people and African Americans at the polls.

Until the mid-1960s, the South voted reliably Democratic in presidential contests. But many Southerners during that time became disenchanted with Democrats’ views on civil rights, beginning a turn to the Republican Party that the GOP capitalized on.

One key to the Democrats’ predicted success this year, political analysts and strategists say, is dissatisfaction among voters with the Republican Party.

President Bush, who won the South twice, is unpopular throughout the country. Republicans are a “bruised brand” this year, said Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, a Democratic strategist in Roanoke, Va., who worked for John Edwards and Virginia Senate candidates. That created an opening for Democrats in the South.

“Don’t think it’s something that we did, because it’s not,” he said. “It’s what the Republicans did.”

The GOP may also have taken the Southern vote for granted, said Chuck Dunn, the dean of the school of government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va.

“Republicans didn’t think about how they needed to build,” he said.

Obama’s strategy has been to play offense in key Southern states, rather than cede the region to McCain.

“They’re denying the Republicans this huge block of Southern votes,” said Merle Black, a politics and government professor at Emory University who specializes in the politics of the South.

Beyond dissatisfaction with Republicans and campaign strategy, the electorate in the South is changing.

Population growth in key urban areas…northern Virginia, Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, N.C., and the Atlanta metro region…has brought in voters from the liberal-leaning Northeast and changed the makeup of the electorate.

“As people move in from the North, they’re not tied to the customs of the South politically and otherwise,” Dunn said.

Conversely, Republicans are doing better in states like Alabama that haven’t changed in demographics as dramatically, said Stephen Borelli, an associate professor of political science at the University of Alabama.

In addition, young voters, many of whom registered in droves this year as Democrats, may not be as tied to the Republican Party as their older relatives.

“Younger voters are much more open to other ideas and candidates,” Dunn said.

While younger voters have tended not to show up on Election Day, they are voting in early voting locations, said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia who specializes in Southern politics.

Also aiding Obama and Democrats is the surge in black voters who are largely supporting Obama in states like North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. Republicans may not have a strong enough hold on white voters to counteract that, Bullock said.

“As you get a more diverse electorate, that means you have to get a larger portion of white voters,” he said.

In Senate and House contests, Democrats are doing a better job of finding candidates in the South who appeal to white voters because they are socially conservative on issues such as guns, gay marriage and abortion, Borelli said.

Analysts predict Democrats will gain at least two Senate seats in the South, Virginia and likely North Carolina, bringing their total to seven of the 22 seats in Southern states. Democrats are expected to gain some Southern seats in the House as well. Experts say it’s much harder to determine voting trends from House races because they often turn on local issues.

Despite the predicted gains, McCain will likely win eight to 10 Southern states and Southern Republicans will still outnumber Democrats in Congress.

While it’s too soon to say whether the South is becoming more Democratic, the party is developing a base for future elections, no matter Tuesday’s results, political scientists said.

“Some of that new money and organization they have just doesn’t disappear,” Borelli said.

And that means Republicans and Democrats may find themselves much more competitive in the South, but only if Democrats take advantage of that newfound support.

“Reagan Democrats are begging to come home,” Saunders said. “I know Barack Obama will let them back in. The question is, will the national Democratic Party let them back in the tent?”

(Contact Amy Dominello at [email protected])