Dip in Thanksgiving travelers doesn't mean smooth sailing

Fewer Americans are expected to travel for Thanksgiving this year, but those who are taking to the roads and skies still are likely to face congestion.

About 41 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home around the holiday, according to AAA auto club. That figure is down 1.4 percent from last year, meaning 600,000 fewer travelers. The dip represents the first decline in travelers since 2002.
"I think with the economy going downward, people are holding off on traveling," AAA spokeswoman Christie Hyde said, noting that the largest drop this Thanksgiving is in flying.
The Air Transport Association of American is projecting a 10 percent decrease in the number of air passengers flying over a 12-day period around the holiday, but airline capacity cuts prompted by record-high fuel prices over the summer mean planes will remain crowded.
The ATA expects planes to be close to 90 percent full, on average, on the busiest travel days.
"You'll see plenty of people on airplanes that are full," ATA spokesman David Castelveter said.
He urges air travelers to arrive at the airport early, be prepared to go through security checkpoints and travel light, as space in overhead compartments and underneath seats will be limited. Ball State University student Katie Dorsey, 21, will be flying out of Indianapolis' new airport for the first time. She usually makes the trip to Orlando, Florida, to visit her father a couple times a year.
"I know they have more TSA checkpoint lanes, so it should be faster getting through security, but I'm not sure as far as lines," Dorsey said of the new airport. "I'm going to try to get there at least two hours before my flight this time."
Last week the TSA expanded its family lane program to every security checkpoint. Families, individuals who are unfamiliar with security procedures, travelers with special needs and those carrying medically necessary liquids in amounts exceeding the TSA's allowances can use these lanes to get through security at their own pace.

Obama says budget reform 'a necessity'

President-elect Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to go through the federal budget "page by page, line by line" to eliminate excessive spending and get the economy back on track.
"If we are going to make the investments we need, we also have to be willing to shed the spending that we don't need," Obama said at a news conference in Chicago, Illinois.
"In these challenging times, when we're facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It's a necessity," he said.
Obama also said that he has selected Peter Orszag as his nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Orszag, the head of the Congressional Budget Office, is an expert on health care, pensions and Social Security policy. He worked at the Clinton White House as special assistant to the president at the National Economic Council and served on the Council of Economic Advisers.
The move comes a day after the president-elect announced key members of his economic team, including New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner as his choice for treasury secretary and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers as his selection for chief of the National Economic Council.
Obama said Tuesday that there will be more announcements as he fleshes out the rest of his economic team.

Huckabee tells Republicans how to recover

If the Republican Party wants to get back on track, former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says GOP leaders must first restore voters' confidence in the government.
"People will forgive you for being a little left or a little right, but they won't forgive you for not taking them up instead of down," he told CNN in between appearances on his 56-city tour to promote his new book, "Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America."
Huckabee said Republicans have lost their reputation as people who believe in curtailing spending and attempting to balance the budget and have a new label: the "budget busters," who spend more than they can pay back while priding themselves in not raising taxes.
"But it's not that they do it by curbing spending, they just kick the can down the road and put the burden on our grandchildren," he said, adding that he considers it "morally wrong" to indebt future generations.

Obama aides say Clinton 'on track' for secretary of state job

President-elect Obama is on track to nominate Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state after Thanksgiving.
Clinton senior adviser Philippe Reines repeated a statement that "any and all speculation about Cabinet or other administration appointments is for President-Elect Obama's transition team to address."
CNN also has learned that Obama is getting foreign policy advice from an unlikely source: Republican Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser in the first Bush administration.
Two sources familiar with the conversations confirm to CNN that Obama reached out to Scowcroft for phone chats even before he ran for president, and the back-and-forth has continued in recent days as the president-elect assembles his Cabinet.
Scowcroft is very close to current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is rumored to be in the running to stay in the Cabinet for at least an interim period at the start of the new Obama administration.
During a recent appearance on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Scowcroft said it would be a wise move for Obama to keep Gates in the Cabinet.
"I actually think it would send the kind of signal that I think the president-elect intends, or spoke about in his campaign, and that is that we need to work together. We need to work as Americans," Scowcroft said. "And I think giving Bob Gates some more time to do the kinds of things he's doing would be a very wise course of action."
But a senior Obama aide told CNN not to see the conversations as a signal that Gates may keep his job. "Don't read anything into this -- he was an admirer [of Scowcroft] long before running or even needing to select" a secretary of defense, the Obama aide said.
The Obama aide said the president-elect "respects and admires Gen. Scowcroft's bipartisan, pragmatic approach to foreign policy," adding that Obama "looks forward to continuing the dialogue with Gen. Scowcroft -- as well as other key Republicans, Democrats and independents -- to get the very best advice."
Scowcroft, who opposed the war in Iraq, is a fierce critic of the current Bush administration's approach.
"I think we developed in the Republican Party a -- well, you know, the buzzword for it is "neoconism,' " Scowcroft said on CNN earlier this month. "But I think what it is, it's an ideology -- it's really an idealistic approach to things. But it's a combination of idealism and, if you will, brute force."
On Thursday, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told CNN that he is excited about the possibility of heading the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, where he would be the point person in helping to reform the nation's health care system.
Three sources close to Obama's transition team told CNN on Wednesday that the president-elect's choice to lead HHS is the former senator, if he passes the vetting process.
Daschle himself is on the health care advisory group of Obama's transition team.

Big Three auto CEOs flew private jets to ask for taxpayer money

Some lawmakers lashed out at the CEOs of the Big Three auto companies Wednesday for flying private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.
"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.
"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."
He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."
The executives -- Alan Mulally of Ford, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Richard Wagoner of GM -- were seeking support for a $25 billion loan package. Later Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reversed plans to hold a test vote on the measure.
An aide told CNN that Reid decided to cancel the test vote when it became clear the measure would fall well short of the 60 votes needed. Reid did, however, make a procedural move that could allow a vote on a compromise, which several senators from auto-producing states were feverishly trying to craft.
At Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, pressed the private-jet issue, asking the three CEOs to "raise their hand if they flew here commercial."
"Let the record show, no hands went up," Sherman said. "Second, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you are planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up."
The executives did not specifically respond to those remarks. In their testimony, they said they are streamlining business operations in general.

Bill Clinton agrees to vetting

A major obstacle in Sen. Hillary Clinton's path to becoming President-elect Barack Obama's Secretary of State may be out of the way, as former President Bill Clinton has made several concessions to help move his wife's vetting process along.
A source familiar with the discussions between Hillary Clinton and the president-elect confirms to CNN that the former president will release the names of several major donors to the Clinton Foundation as well as submit future foundation activities and paid speeches to a strict ethics review.
In addition, the former president is offering to step down from his day-to-day responsibilities at the foundation and inform the State Department of his speaking schedule and any new sources of income.
Clinton said Wednesday that he would do whatever was asked of him in regards to the vetting process.
"Whatever they want, this is a deal between president-elect and Hillary and you should talk to them, but I'll do whatever they want," he said. "We're both committed, completely committed to his success so that's for them to work out. Whatever they do, I'll support."
President Clinton's international and financial dealings with his foundation and presidential library have been a sticking point with an Obama camp worried that Sen. Clinton's position in the cabinet could create a potential conflict of interest as the country's top diplomat.

Ford CEO on bailout opposition: Past is past

Ford Motor Company chief executive Alan Mulally defended his company Tuesday against charges that Ford caused its own problems and said bailing out Detroit was essential to the U.S. economic recovery.
Hours before Mulally and other heads of the Big Three automakers were scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Housing, Banking and Urban Affairs, Mulally appeared on CNN's "American Morning" to discuss his expected testimony.
Mulally told CNN's John Roberts that Ford took time to develop an electric hybrid car because its top priority was making the internal combustion engine more efficient. He also defended the company's advertising blitz for the F-150 pickup truck and said the company had been working on improving its fuel efficiency long before there was talk of bailing out Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.

Citigroup to cut more than 50,000 jobs

Citigroup said Monday it planned to cut more than 50,000 jobs, the latest move by the struggling bank to cut costs in order to weather the credit crisis plaguing Wall Street.
In an investor presentation on its Web site, the company said it would reduce its workforce to approximately 300,000 employees. As of the end of September, the New York City-based bank had about 352,000 employees.
This would be a 20% reduction in Citigroup's staff from their peak levels late last year.
Roughly half of those jobs would come as a result of recent division sales, including the sale of the company's German retail banking division. A Citigroup spokesperson said the remainder would touch all divisions of the company, both domestically and internationally.
Last week, there was speculation that the company's investment banking and wealth management divisions would feel the brunt of the cuts.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, who was appointed last December, addressed the job cuts at an employee town hall meeting held Monday morning.
In a memo to company employees Monday, Pandit asked workers to remain committed to their clients and customers ahead of what is expected to be a difficult 2009. "Citi needs you to maintain your focus on helping them succeed because now is the time when lasting loyalty is earned," he wrote.
Most of the cuts are expected to take place by year end before trailing off sometime in 2009. What remains unclear is whether more layoffs could follow. The company described the cuts as a "near-term" target.
Citigroup's announcement is the latest blow to an already reeling labor market. Nearly 1.2 million jobs have been lost this year and the unemployment rate hit a more than 14-year high of 6.5% in October.
And according to figures from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Citigroup's job cuts rank among the largest since Challenger began tracking layoffs in 1993. IBM announced job cuts of 60,000 workers in July 1993 while retailer Sears announced 50,000 job cuts in January 1993.

Obama, Clinton meet to talk about her future

President-elect Barack Obama met with his former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton to see if she would be interested in a role in his administration.

Obama also will meet with the man he defeated in the general election, Republican Sen. John McCain, on Monday, the Obama transition team announced Friday.
Clinton went to the meeting because "she knew Obama wanted to talk about whether she would have a role in the administration," one of the sources knowledgeable about the meeting said.
Obama and Clinton met in Chicago, Illinois, at the request of the president-elect.
The two sources said Clinton was surprised to hear the rumors about the secretary of state position. The sources could not confirm that the two discussed the nation's top diplomatic position or that it was offered.

This is not the first time Clinton has been rumored to be under consideration for a position on Obama's team.
The New York senator was said to be on Obama's short list of possible vice presidential picks this summer, but Obama ended up picking Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.
That source said Clinton thought the speculation that she would be tapped to be Obama's secretary of state was "silly" because of the earlier buzz about her becoming Obama's running mate.

Jobless claims highest since Sept. 11 attacks

Unemployment filings surge to 516,000, number of Americans continuing on benefits at 25-year high.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance last week surged to the highest levels since the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to a 25-year high, the government said Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial filings for state jobless benefits reached 516,000 for the week ended Nov. 8. That's the highest total since the week ended Sept. 29, 2001, two weeks after the attacks against New York and Washington, when 517,000 initial claims were filed.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected 479,000 claims. This week, jobless filings increased by 32,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 484,000. Last year, the figure stood at 338,000.
The report is troubling because many economists expected jobless claims to hold from the week prior, according to Andrew Gledhill, economist at Moody's Economy.com.
"The labor market is deteriorating more rapidly than previously thought," he said.
He expects weekly claims to remain above 500,000 for at least six months, due to the breadth of job losses that are being reported.
The high number of Americans continuing to collect unemployment shows that hiring conditions are poor, according to Andrew Gledhill, economist at Moody's Economy.com.
The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for one week or more surged by 65,000 to 3,897,000, the highest level since January 1983. The data comes from the week ended Nov. 1, the most recent available. At this time last year, the figure was 2,587,000. The Bush administration weighed in on the jobless claim numbers.
"We know this is a tough time for many people and that's why this administration is focused on dealing with the financial situation across the board ... To get the economy moving and create jobs," according to Gordon Johndroe, a deputy press secretary.
The four-week moving average of unemployment claims, used to smooth fluctuations in the data, increased by 13,250 to 491,000 from the previous week's average of 477,750. A reading above 400,000 has been present during the past two recessions.
Ohio and Michigan, suffering from job losses related to the troubled U.S. automobile industry, reported the largest increases in initial claims.
The layoffs in those states are not likely to be reversed in coming months, Gledhill said. "Vehicle sales have been falling off a cliff, and that's not going to be reversed anytime soon."
Extended benefits were available in North Carolina and Rhode Island during the week ended Oct. 25, according to the report.
U.S. job losses have been mounting for months. Last week, the Labor Department reported the economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, bringing the total number of jobs shed in 2008 to nearly 1.2 million. The unemployment rate rose to 6.5%, a 14-year high, last month.
President-elect Barack Obama has put forth a few economic stimulus proposals, which may gain bipartisan support.
Some of his ideas include temporarily exempting the unemployed from having to pay income tax on their unemployment benefits, extending unemployment benefits, spending more on infrastructure to create jobs, and temporary tax credits for businesses that create jobs in the United States.
In the past week, Ford (F, Fortune 500) said it would cut salaried employment costs by 10%, global delivery company DHL said it was cutting 9,500 jobs and financial service provider Fidelity Investment announced 1,300 job cuts.

Obama administration to ratchet up hunt for bin Laden

President-elect Barack Obama wants to renew the U.S. commitment to finding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to his national security advisers.

The Obama team believes the Bush administration has downplayed the importance of catching the FBI's most-wanted terrorist because it has not been able to find him.
"We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority," Obama said during the presidential debate on October 7.
But tracking down bin Laden won't be easy.
In May, al Qaeda released an audiotape featuring bin Laden. But U.S. intelligence officials say they haven't had a solid lead on the terrorist mastermind's whereabouts since late 2001, when he was nearly captured in a battle with U.S. forces near Tora Bora, Afghanistan.
Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer, told CNN he's talked to "a dozen CIA guys who've been on the hunt for him, and half of them told me they assumed he was dead, the other half said they assumed he was alive, but the key word here is assume. They don't know."

Intelligence officials believe bin Laden is hiding in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, a remote and primitive region with mountain peaks as tall as 14,000 feet (4,270 meters) that make the terrain difficult to navigate.
"If you think of this as sort of a combination of [the hunt for] Eric Rudolph, who was the Olympic bomber, and the movie 'Deliverance,' multiplied by a factor of 10, that's really what you're focusing on in trying to find bin Laden," said Robert Grenier, the former CIA station chief in Pakistan.

What Obama should do with Biden

Now that he is president-elect, Barack Obama must start thinking about what to do with Joe Biden.
Vice presidents have had very different roles in recent decades, particularly as the power of the office increased.
During the past eight years, we have watched Dick Cheney expand the influence of the vice president into virtually the policymaker-in-chief with his unprecedented role in shaping the war on terrorism.
Obama will face a number of herculean challenges starting in January. One of them will be to effectively work with a Democratic Congress where there remain major tensions with the executive branch, as a result of President Bush's aggressive use of presidential power, and growing divisions among different factions of the Democratic Party.
With the responsibility of controlling united government in difficult economic times, conflicts are likely to flare among Democrats as legislators realize that failure could result in a backlash.
This is where Joe Biden should come into the picture. Along with Rahm Emanuel -- who will be Obama's chief of staff -- Biden should be used by Obama as a point man on Capitol Hill to help twist arms, make arguments and build voting coalitions.

Obama to make first visit to Oval Office

President-elect Barack Obama will set foot inside the Oval Office for the first time Monday as he meets with President Bush to talk about the problems his incoming administration will face.
The meeting between president and president-elect is a historic formality, but it's also a time for serious talks.
The two are expected to discuss "a broad range of issues," focusing on the economy, according to a leader of Obama's transition team.
"It's clear that we need to stabilize the economy, to deal with the financial meltdown that's now spreading across the rest of the economy. The auto industry is really, really back on its heels," transition team leader John Podesta said.
Podesta told CNN's "Late Edition" that Obama will push Congress to enact "at least part" of an economic package before he takes office in January, but said the problems Americans face need short- and long-term approaches.
The president and president-elect also are expected to talk about national security and the war in Iraq.
As Bush and Obama hold their meeting, first lady Laura Bush will give the incoming first lady, Michelle Obama, a tour of the residence.

Ford: Massive loss, job cuts

Ford Motor reported a $3 billion quarterly operating loss on Friday and said it would reduce staff and capital spending in order to preserve its dwindling cash.
Ford said it would cut salaried employment costs by 10% - reducing compensation of its white collar workers by eliminating merit pay, bonuses and the company's matching contributions to their retirement accounts.
But even with those savings, the company said it's likely to lay off more salaried staffers. It also said hourly staff - mostly factory workers covered by union contracts - would be reduced by an additional 2,600 through a voluntary buyout package.
The company, which earlier this year sold brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover, said it would continue to look to sell assets.
Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally warned that while the company is confident that it is taking the right steps to respond to the downturn, it does not see a quick turnaround in demand for autos in either North America or Europe.
"We believe the downturn in industry volume will be broader, deeper and longer than previously expected," he said during a conference call. Sales volume isn't expected to improve until 2010, he said.
Ford's loss came to $1.31 a share, excluding special items, far worse than the penny a share loss it reported on that basis a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker Thomson Reuters had forecast a loss of 93 cents a share.
The company had a one-time gain of $2.2 billion, related to the accounting of its retiree health care expenses. With that gain, it reported a net loss of $129 million, or 6 cents a share, an improvement from the $380 million, or 19 cents a share, it lost on that basis a year earlier.
While the company did not give any specific guidance on results going forward, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said the current quarter could see a larger increase in losses than seen in the third quarter.
But the operating losses continued to burn through the company's cash position, leaving with its auto operations with only $18.9 billion in cash on hand at the end of the quarter, down $6.3 billion from the start of the quarter.
Concern has been growing that the nation's automakers could run out of cash as soon as next year due to rising losses and high borrowing costs faced by the companies. Ford had been considered to be in the best cash position of the three U.S.-based automakers.
Ford, which saw the volume of its U.S. vehicle sales plunge 25% in the quarter, reported that overall revenue tumbled by $9 billion in the quarter to $32.1 billion. High gasoline prices at the start of the quarter, followed by tight credit, increased job losses and record lows for consumer confidence late in the quarter combined to keep potential auto buyers on the sidelines.
The company disclosed that its fourth-quarter vehicle production would be cut by an additional 40,000 from previous plans. That will leave its quarterly production target at 430,000, down roughly a third from year-ago levels.
Ford said it will move ahead with product development plans for most vehicles, especially for smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles. But it plans to reduce spending on the development of large vehicles and will delay other unspecified vehicles "that will be deferred until industry volumes recover."
Ford also announced it would seek to raise additional cash by using equity-for-debt swaps. But the company's stock has already lost about three-quarters of its value in the last 12 months. Automotive investor Kirk Kerkorian, who invested just over $1 billion in Ford shares earlier this year, has started selling that stake at a large loss and has said he may get out of the company's stock altogether.
Ford (F, Fortune 500) is not the only automaker seeing trouble. Rival General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) is forecast to report a jump in losses in the quarter later in the day Friday. On Thursday, Japanese rival Toyota Motor (TM), which is poised to see its first annual decline in U.S. auto sales, slashed its earnings outlook for its current fiscal year.
The chief executives of GM, Ford and privately-held Chrysler LLC, as well as the president of the United Auto Workers union, met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday to seek support for a wide-ranging bailout package for the industry. Both leaders voiced support for additional help for the sector following their meetings.
Mulally said he was encouraged by the discussions with members of Congress, but added that Ford isn't counting on additional federal help because it can't be sure of what will be approved. He also disclosed that Ford is also talking to governments in other countries where it has operations as well.
Ford would be willing to discuss granting stock or stock warrants to the U.S. government in return for getting help, Mulally said. No details of such an equity stake in the automaker had been discussed, he added.
Among the topics discussed were a $25 billion loan to fund union-controlled trust funds that would be set up in the coming year to cover the health care costs of retirees and their family members. Shifting about $100 billion of those costs from the automakers' balance sheet to the trust funds was a key concession the companies won from the UAW in the 2007 labor deals.
The discussions also touched upon allowing the automakers to tap into the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street firms and the nation's banks that was passed by Congress last month. Treasury has so far rejected auto-industry inquiries about accessing that pool of money.
The automakers also renewed their pre-election request to double the $25 billion low-interest loan program approved by Congress, as part of energy legislation, to help automakers convert to making more fuel-efficient vehicles in an effort to meet the demands of car buyers and new federal rules.

Emanuel expected to bring 'tough-minded' approach to White House

U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel will bring a "tough-minded" and "pragmatic" approach to the White House when he becomes President-Elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, according to people who know the Chicago, Illinois, native.
A Democratic aide told CNN that Emanuel, a former member of the Clinton administration, had accepted the position Thursday.
After leaving the Clinton White House, Emanuel was an investment banker on Wall Street and later was elected to the House of Representatives from a heavily Democratic Chicago district. He quickly rose to become the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House.
It is Emanuel's combination of experiences -- plus his strong personal relationship with Obama -- that would make him a strong chief of staff, said CNN political analyst Paul Begala, a fellow Clinton veteran.
"He has spent more time in the White House than President-elect Obama has. That matters a lot. It is a special place with its own rhythms," Begala said.

iReporters on Obama victory: 'It's history'

Elated supporters took to the streets of Chicago, Washington, Atlanta and other cities across the globe, dancing and cheering for their candidate.
"This is the most wonderful night of my life," said an emotional David White, who grew up during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
White said he remembers when African-Americans couldn't go to amusement parks and didn't think a day like this was achievable.
"I've seen this country vindicate itself," he said. "I welled up with tears just looking at the turnout ... I just thank God that I was alive to see it."

Obama casts ballot as polls open across eastern U.S.

Sen. Barack Obama hit the polls early Tuesday, as dozens of eastern states opened their polling stations to kick off the historic election pitting the Illinois senator against Sen. John McCain.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, voted side by side at Shoesmith Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois, as their daughters Sasha and Malia looked on. The couple took about 20 minutes to complete their ballots.
"I hope this works. I'll be really embarrassed if it doesn't," Obama told a poll worker as he fed his ballot into a machine.
iReporter Lindsey Miller, 23, said Secret Service agents were checking names off a list and using metal-detecting wands on some would-be voters as they entered the polling place.
"All the agents and stuff was a bit overwhelming for having just woken up," the University of Chicago graduate student said. "A lot of people were in pajamas. I know I was -- not the time you want to be on national TV."

McCain tries to turn must-win states; Obama stays on offense

As they enter their final day of campaigning before Election Day, Sen. John McCain is trying to swing undecided voters in key battleground states, while Sen. Barack Obama is staying on the offensive by campaigning in territory that is usually safely Republican.
In addition, both campaigns are ratcheting up their get-out-the-vote efforts, as election officials predict record turnouts and long lines on Tuesday.
McCain on Monday hopes he can shift enough voters in a handful of critical states to give him enough votes to pull a come-from-behind victory.
He has an uphill climb. There are very few undecided voters left, and McCain will have to sway most of them for him to overcome Obama's lead. The latest national CNN poll of polls has Obama ahead of McCain 51 percent to 44 percent, with 5 percent undecided.
McCain has also lost ground to Obama in the race for electoral votes and needs to win a number of battleground states if he is to deny Obama the White House.