Time for America to choose | Getting the vote | Avoiding a power vaccum | The final sprint | Opinion: Gerard Baker | Magic number for the Democrats | What the world wants

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Before the storm, there was calm. Having travelled to almost every corner of his country in a 21-month campaign, one of the longest, hardest fought, certainly most expensive in history, Barack Obama pronounced himself content yesterday with whatever destiny has in store.

“You know, I feel pretty peaceful,” he said. “Because my attitude is if we’ve done everything we can do, then it’s up to the people to decide. And the question is going to be who wants it more. I hope that our supporters want it bad, because I think the country needs it.”

But there was also eve-of-poll grief for Mr Obama with the death of his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, from cancer. Two weeks ago he had broken off his campaign to visit the 86-year-old, who largely brought him up in Hawaii, and had voiced fears that she would not live to see him win.

The Democrat’s campaign exuded confidence that America is ready to elect its first black president today with new voters expected to propel turnout to an all-time high of 130 million. Although polls have tightened in the final days in key states such as Ohio and Florida, Mr Obama – who now has led in more than 250 national surveys conducted since September 25 – said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the result.

Yesterday he stopped briefly in Jacksonville, Florida, to receive a red rose from a wellwisher before pushing through East Coast battlegrounds on his way to an anticipated victory party in his home city of Chicago tonight. It will be the last stage of a campaign in which Mr Obama has journeyed more than 60,000 miles since June, while his campaign shattered records by raising more than $640 million (£405 million) and deployed an army of 1.5 million volunteers.

John McCain, embarking on an 18-hour whirlwind tour through seven states where he must halt Mr Obama’s advance, still growled defiance yesterday. “The pundits may not know it and the Democrats may not know it, but the Mac is back!” he told a rally in Tampa, Florida. “We’re going to win.”

The Republican nominee has been more at ease with himself in the past few days than for many weeks, showing glimpses of humour once more and reprising an underdog role that he has played throughout his career. His party is rolling out a vast get-out-the-vote operation today and aides promise they can yet provide a “slam-bang finish”.

Mr Obama, however, has already begun to look beyond today’s election towards the transition, the inauguration and the White House. Instead, he is bracing himself for one of the worst inheritances – including two unfinished wars and an economic crisis – of any modern president.

Although the Democrats are expected to tighten their grip over Capitol Hill in congressional elections today, Mr Obama said: “We’re not going to solve our problems just with one party. We have to work with the other side.”

Gordon Brown, speaking at an oil conference in Abu Dhabi, said that the next president must step up immediately after the election to help to navigate the world through the financial storms. He gave warning that the global economy was too fragile to withstand a political vacuum in Washington during the 77-day transition.

“I think that leadership will and must continue,” he said.

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