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Americans Begin Voting for President
Americans began casting ballots in the tightest US presidential election in decades on November 7, as a Reuters/MSNBC daily tracking poll detected some last-minute momentum for Democrat Al Gore in his race against Republican George W. Bush .
Following tradition, citizens of the tiny New Hampshire town of Dixville Notch voted one minute after midnight (0501 GMT) but most other polls would not open for business until six or seven hours later.
Bush scored a symbolic victory in the hamlet, which traditionally casts one of the first ballots in the U.S. election, as voters backed the Republican nominee over Gore by a margin of 21 to five, election officials.
Gore campaigned throughout the night in a frenetic 30-hour marathon dash to the finish line that began Monday morning and was to conclude with the vice president voting in his hometown of Carthage, Tenn. mid-morning on Tuesday.
Bush, the Texas governor, ended his 17-month quest for the White House hours earlier with a late-night rally on Monday in Austin, Texas.
Particularly in the last days of the hard fought and bitter contest, the two candidates criss-crossed the country numerous times as they wound up the costliest presidential campaign ever.
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