PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Focus turns to polls as voters have say

Officials predicted a record turnout in an extremely tight race.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In an election that bid to rival the photo finish of 2000, voters chose today between President Bush and challenger John Kerry after a slugfest campaign that intensified through the year. Bush, voting in Texas, said, "I've given it my all." Kerry, still campaigning in Wisconsin, promised to take the nation "to a better place."
There were long lines at polling places, and officials predicted record turnout in the first wartime election in a generation.
"This election is in the hands of the people, and I feel very comfortable about that," Bush said after voting near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, along with first lady Laura Bush and twin daughters Barbara and Jenna.
Kerry, who was to vote later in Boston, handed out information packets in the morning to volunteers in La Crosse, Wis., exhorting his supporters to "get the job done."
"We're going to take America to a better place," the Massachusetts senator promised.
Challenges
It was the first presidential election since the United States plunged into its epochal war on terrorism, and heavy crowds were reported at polling places in the East, the first precincts to open. Long lines snaked out the doors as voters waited, some in the rain, and brought chairs for expected long waits.
The prospect of unprecedented legal challenges hung over Election Day, each side sending thousands of lawyers into motion to monitor the flood of newly registered voters and mount hair-trigger challenges against any sign of irregularity.
"My hope of course is that this election ends tonight," Bush told reporters, referring to the expected legal challenges in some districts. He won the presidency in 2000 only after a Supreme Court decision gave him Florida and the Electoral College majority.
Of Kerry, Bush said, "I wish him all the best. He and I are in the exact same position ... I'm sure he's happy, like I am, that the campaign is over."
For his part, Kerry made appearances today in Wisconsin, where residents can register and vote on the same day. Of the reports of long voter lines, he said, "It's just a magical kind of day."
A dizzying final dash across the Midwest and points south capped a campaign that found the contenders deadlocked at every vital turn.
Long lines
By all signs, voters were engaged.
Long lines were reported at precincts from Florida and North Carolina to West Virginia and Michigan. "We even had people waiting in line before we opened at 6:30 a.m.," said Wayne County Clerk Robert Pasley in Wayne, W.Va. "In some places, there was more than a dozen people waiting, and that's heavy."
Rain was falling in parts of the Midwest as voters lined up. Brian Fravel, a 43-year-old welder who lives in Columbus, said he had never had to wait to vote. When he arrived at the Northland Church of Christ at 7:30 a.m., he found a long line of people and waited 45 minutes to cast a ballot. "I thought I was early enough to beat it," Fravel said.
The polls
The final pre-election polls turned up tied -- 49-49 in one CNN-USA Today-Gallup survey, with Ralph Nader at 1 percent. Tight surveys in Florida and a variety of Midwestern states including Ohio deepened the mystery over who would collect the necessary 270 electoral votes.
Both candidates cast their candidacies as vital to the country's welfare. Bush declared the "safety and prosperity of America" was at stake, and Kerry said that "the hopes of our country are on the line."
Overnight, the Bush campaign sent an e-mail from the president exhorting people to vote -- "It comes down to today" -- and asking that the recipient forward the e-mail to five more people. Kerry e-mailed a similar call to arms: "When you go to the polls bring your friends, your family, your neighbors. No one can afford to stand on the sidelines or sit this one out."
"In all honesty, I don't think it's possible to predict what's going to happen," Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said today on NBC's "Today" show. "I think we're going to see unprecedented turnout, I think we're going to see huge voter participation. And when that happens, democracy works. So we feel very confident, very optimistic."
The nation's first votes cast and counted today in the mountain hamlet of Hart's Location, N.H., reflected in miniature what seemed likely to be writ large across the country: a horse race in votes, not just polls.
Following a quirky tradition of post-midnight voting in New Hampshire's North Country, 16 people voted for Bush, 14 for Kerry and one for Ralph Nader. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore 17-13 in the hamlet in 2000.