Clocks fell back an hour on the day before in America, to kick in daylight savings time but the country ticked forward towards making history this week with a decision that will likely change the way the world looks at the United States, and if the projected victor has his way, the way Washington will look at the world.

Barack Hussein Obama, a young mixed race Senator serving his first term, is leading the all-American national hero John McCain in every opinion poll, and barring a monumental misread ? or ?the Democrats ability to screw up a one-car procession?, as someone put it ? it?s all over bar the celebration for the former and mourning for the latter. Even that has begun in some quarters despite Obama?s restraining hand and McCain?s feisty spirit.

Yesterday, both candidates began gravitating towards Washington DC and its White House prize after a bruising election campaign that has lasted nearly two years and cost more than $ 1 billion between them (overall cost including Congressional polls is estimated at close to $ 5 billion).

McCain, his voice hoarse and his face drawn, was campaigning yesterday in Pennsylvania and neighbouring Ohio, whose 21+20 electoral votes hold the key to the White House. Obama was moving in from the south, campaigning in North Carolina (13) and Virginia (15), conservative strongholds that have turned favourable to him and where victory will hammer the last nails in the Republican coffin for some years to come.

It?s impossible to miss the sense of exhilaration and anticipation that is sweeping across the country and the world, even in this academic outpost in a Democratic stronghold already written in for Obama.

The media, most liberal and clearly wishing for a Democratic shoo-in, is already sounding the drum rolls. ?History just a few days away,? read a headline in the New York Newsday. ?Silicon Valley Voters Craving for Change,? was the headline in the San Jose Mercury News. Of course, New York and California are Democratic strongholds, but even in Midwest states such as Colorado, Missouri and Nevada, all of which voted for Bush in the last election, there is an unmistakable Obama surge?

HOW DOES IT WORK ?

On the voting day, always the first Tuesday of november, the winner in each state will take all of the delegates their state is entitled to. Those delegates will vote for their party candidate in the electoral college. Summarizing : based on the representatives chosen by the population, each state has a certain number of votes. The winner in a state takes them all. The one with the largest number of electoral votes wins. In extreme cases, though, the winner might be less voted by the population and still have more electoral votes.

Barack Obama led John McCain in six of eight key battleground states, on the eve of the the US election, including the big prizes of Florida and Ohio, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released yesterday.

Obama held a 7-point edge over McCain among likely US voters in a separate Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby national tracking poll, up 1 percentage point from Sunday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

Obama headed into today?s voting in a comfortable position, with McCain struggling to overtake his lead in every national opinion poll and to hold off his challenge in about a dozen states won by President George W. Bush in 2004.

The new state polls showed Obama with a 1-point lead in Missouri and 2-point lead in Florida, within the margin of error of 4.1 percentage points. But Obama also held leads in Ohio, Virginia and Nevada ? all states won by Bush in 2004.

The five states where Obama is ahead have a combined 76 electoral votes. Along with states won by Democrat John Kerry in 2004, they would give Obama 328 electoral votes ? far more than the 270 needed to win the White House.

Obama also led by 11 percentage points in Pennsylvania, which McCain has targeted as his best chance to steal a state won by Kerry in 2004.

McCain led Obama by 5 points in Indiana and by 1 point in North Carolina ?- both states won by Bush in 2004. ?Obama?s lead is very steady. He could be looking at a big day today,? said pollster John Zogby. ?These are all Republican states except Pennsylvania, and that does not look like it?s going to turn for him.?

In Florida, the biggest prize being fought over today with 27 electoral votes, Obama led McCain by 48 % to 46 %. The two were running dead even at 47 % one week ago.

In Ohio, the state that decided the 2004 election with a narrow win for Bush, Obama has opened a 6-point edge. He also has a 6-point lead on McCain in Virginia and an 8-point advantage in fast-growing Nevada.

Obama leads McCain by a statistically insignificant 1 point, 47 % to 46 %, in Missouri. McCain had the same 1-point edge in traditionally Republican North Carolina. McCain had a solid 5-point lead in Indiana, which has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964. Obama has worked to put Indiana in the Democratic column, and plans a visit there on Election Day to try to help turn out the vote.

  In the national poll, Obama led by 15 points among independents and by 13 points among women, two crucial voting blocs in today?s election. He led by 1 point among men and among all age groups except those between the ages of 55 and 69, who favor McCain by 1 point. 

McCain led among whites by 13 percentage points but is only attracting about 25 percent of Hispanics. In 2004, Bush won more than 40 % of Hispanics. Both independent Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr were at 1 % in the survey, with about 2 % of voters still undecided.

The rolling tracking poll, taken at the end of last week, surveyed 1,205 likely voters in the presidential election. In a tracking poll, the most recent day?s results are added, while the oldest day?s results are dropped to monitor changing momentum. The state surveys were also taken last week, with a sample in each state of between 600 and 605 likely voters. The margin of error in all eight states was 4.1 percentage points.

FACTBOX

Clues to election result could come early

■ Some of the earliest returns in today?s presidential election could provide big clues about the outcome. Trends in the race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain could become clear soon after the first polls begin to close at 2300 GMT in Indiana.

Obama and McCain are locked in a surprisingly tight duel in Indiana, a Midwestern state that has voted Republican in every White House race since 1964. A breakthrough win for Obama, or even a neck-and-neck struggle, would be an encouraging sign of broad strength for the senator from neighboring Illinois.

But if McCain appears to be cruising to a relatively easy win in Indiana it could signal trouble for Obama, who is challenging McCain in about a dozen states won in 2004 by Republican President George W. Bush.

The first public sign of Democrat John Kerry's loss in 2004 came from a worse-than-expected 20-point blowout in Indiana.

?If Obama wins Indiana, the election is over,? Democratic consultant Doug Schoen said. ?Even if it?s close, within 2 or 3 points, it probably suggests a big Obama win nationally. If it?s more than 4 points for McCain, it?s going to be wait and see for a while.?

The next round of tests is at midnight GMT, when voting ends in Georgia, parts of Florida and the battleground state of Virginia -? another place where Democrats have not won a presidential vote since 1964 but have made gains in recent statewide races. ?If Obama wins Virginia by a decisive margin, it?s a pretty strong suggestion he?s going to win the election,? Schoen said. ?If McCain wins by more than a few points that could suggest movement toward him.? At 0030 GMT on Wednesday, polls close in the states of Ohio and North Carolina.

By 0100 GMT on Wednesday, all polls in Florida will be closed. Florida?s 27 electoral votes and Ohio?s 20 electoral votes are two of the biggest prizes still up for grabs today.

McCain, an Arizona senator who faces a perilous path to gaining the 270 electoral votes he needs to win, essentially has to carry all of those early battleground states to have a realistic chance.

A setback in any would increase pressure on McCain to make up for the loss with an upset of Obama in Pennsylvania, which Democrats have taken in the past four presidential elections. Voting in Pennsylvania, which has 21 electoral votes, also ends at 0100 GMT.

The presidential race is not the only battle with an early bellwether. The first returns could offer hints about the fight for control of the US Senate as well.

Democrats are expected to dramatically boost their narrow 51-49 control today, but need to pick up nine seats to reach a 60-seat majority that would give them the muscle to defeat Republican procedural hurdles.

The first crucial Senate showdown is in Kentucky, where Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is in a tough fight for re-election and, like Indiana, polls begin to close at 1100 GMT. ?Indiana offers an early tip about the presidential race, and Kentucky will do the same for the Senate,? said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll. ?If McConnell wins Kentucky, there is no way the Democrats get to 60,? Brown said. ?We?re going to know two things fairly early -? whether it?s a presidential blowout and whether the Democrats have any shot at 60 seats. Those are two big questions.?