Obama casts ballot as polls open across eastern U.S. CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama hit the polls early Tuesday as dozens of eastern states opened their polling stations to kick off one of the most historic presidential elections in the nation's history. 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 10 minutes to complete their ballots. 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." As the Obamas departed their polling station, Sen. Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, arrived at theirs -- Tatnall School in Wilmington, Delaware -- to cast their ballots. Biden was scheduled to head to the battleground state of Virginia, where Obama campaigned Monday, before joining Obama in Chicago, where the Democratic candidates plan to watch election results roll in. Obama's schedule includes a stop in Indiana, where he plans to play basketball -- something he's done on past election days -- before heading to a campaign stop in Indianapolis. Republican nominee John McCain, meanwhile, was scheduled to be in Phoenix, Arizona, late Tuesday morning, his campaign said. He will vote at Albright United Methodist Church before making quick visits to Grand Junction, Colorado, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Colorado and New Mexico both voted for President Bush in 2004, but the latest polls have them leaning toward Obama. After his campaign events, McCain will return to Phoenix, where he will be joined in the evening by his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Palin is scheduled to vote in Wasilla, Alaska, before returning south to join McCain. Don't Miss Battleground campaign blitz Election features CNN electoral map State-by-state polling On the last day of campaigning, McCain tried to turn the electoral math to his favor with a multistate blitz through the battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico and Nevada. He needs those states to get the 270 electoral votes for victory. In a sign that he was still on the offensive, Obama spent his last day campaigning in states that have gone for the Republican candidate in recent elections -- Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. No matter who wins the electoral college, the 2008 presidential election will be a historic one, as the nation will send either an African-American or the oldest first-term president to the White House. A McCain win would also mean the first female vice president in the nation's history. Americans are expected to head to the polls in record numbers Tuesday, election officials have predicted. In Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, 100 percent of registered voters -- all 21 of them -- cast their ballots just after midnight in the first moments of Tuesday morning. For the first time in 40 years, the town voted Democratic in the presidential election, 15 to 6. Record numbers have already cast ballots in early voting. As of Monday, more than 24 million voters had voted. Election experts predicted more than a third of the electorate would have voted before the polls opened on Election Day. The 2008 presidential election has also proved to be the most expensive in history. Watch how this election is history in the making ? Obama repeatedly shattered fundraising records by soliciting donations over the Internet. As of Monday, Obama had raised more than $454 million, compared with the $230 million raised by McCain. By the end of October, Obama's campaign had spent more than $292 million on advertising, compared to nearly $132 million spent by McCain, who accepted federal campaign financing. Obama had enough left in the bank to buy time on several networks Thursday night for a muscle-flexing, 30-minute prime-time ad. Watch Larry King and his panel reflect on the final hours of the campaign ? Tuesday also marks the end of one of the longest presidential campaign seasons -- nearly 21 months. Obama announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on the steps of the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois, in February 2007, two years after he entered the U.S. Senate. At the time, the Democratic field was dominated by Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, whom many pundits were calling the "inevitable" candidate. Despite Clinton's early anointment, she and Obama entered a protracted battle for the nomination that did not end until Clinton conceded in June. McCain also defied the odds to win his party's nomination. The self-proclaimed "maverick" announced his candidacy in March 2007 on "The Late Show With David Letterman." Watch McCain make final push ? He quickly outspent his fundraising, however, and had to fire most of his staff a few months later, his campaign in disarray and nearly broke. But New Hampshire voters jump-started McCain's campaign with a victory in the state's primary in January 2008, propelling him to the front of the Republican field. McCain wrapped up the nomination in March. Heading into the party conventions, Obama picked Biden, who had also sought the Democratic nomination, as his running mate. Biden's long tenure in the Senate and service on the body's Foreign Relations Committee were seen as shoring up a deficiency in Obama's resume. Watch Obama on McCain ? McCain, meanwhile, surprised most observers by selecting Palin, a darling of conservatives who had been standoffish in their support of the Arizona senator. As McCain and Obama emerged from their parties' conventions, the race was essentially a tossup, with McCain campaigning on his experience and Obama on the promise of change. But the race was altered by the financial crisis that hit Wall Street in September. Obama began to pull away in the polls nationally as well as in key battleground states. A CNN poll of polls calculated on Monday showed Obama leading McCain 51 percent to 44 percent with 5 percent undecided. Obama also opened a lead in the race for electoral votes. As of Monday, CNN estimated Obama would win 291 electoral votes and McCain would win 157, with 90 electoral votes still up for grabs. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/election.president/index.html --

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