Presidential Election Handed Off to Voters

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DALLAS - The first presidential election since the United States plunged into its epochal war on terrorism was finally handed off to voters Tuesday, President Bush (news - web sites) declaring the "safety and prosperity of America" is at stake and Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) saying, "the hopes of our country are on the line."


A dizzying final dash across the Midwest and points south capped a campaign that found the contenders deadlocked at every vital turn and stirred expectations that Americans, for once, were highly motivated to vote.


"Today is decision day," Kerry told cheering supporters at an airport hanger in Toledo, Ohio, early Tuesday morning. "You have an opportunity now, this day, to make fundamental change in America, and the hopes of our country are on the line."


By all signs, voters were engaged.


"Every election's important ... but my very survival is an issue, and that never was," said Margie Miller, 55, of Baldwin, N.Y., whose husband Joel died at his 97th-floor desk at the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11 attacks. "All I care about is safety, safety, safety."

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