Powell

FORMER UNITED States (US) Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has dismissed fears that electors might buck the trends in opinion polls and vote against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Tuesday when Americans vote to elect their 44th president.

Obama and McCain

For several weeks, Obama, an African American, has been leading his Republican rival John McCain in national polls by a margin from as low as five, to double digits. But last week, the Cable News Network's (CNN) national tracking poll found that the difference between the two candidates had declined by one point to seven. Other national polls have also detected a closing of the gap between Obama and McCain, writes Associate Editor Byron Buckley.

Biden and Palin