Americans are heading to the polls Tuesday to elect the next U.S. president.
President Bush told reporters he feels calm and confident of victory over his Democratic challenger John Kerry after voting near his (Crawford) Texas ranch -in the early hours of Election Day 2004.
The president spoke, Tuesday, as opinion polls continue to show an extremely tight race between him and Senator Kerry.
Mr. Kerry spends the early part of the day in the closely contested state of Wisconsin. Later, he heads to his hometown of Boston (Massachusetts) to cast his ballot and watch the election returns.
Mr. Bush plans to head to the midwestern, voter-rich state of Ohio later in the day to thank election volunteers.
His chief political adviser said Tuesday that with the country essentially split between the two candidates, the Republican incumbent's election victory will depend on winning Ohio
Long lines have formed at polling stations in a number of places. Observers expect turnout to exceed the 106 million ballots cast during the last presidential election, four years ago.
Voters also are choosing all 435 members of the House of Representative, one-third of the U.S. Senate, and thousands of local officials.