KEY POINTS:
The US presidential candidates have headed to the so-called battleground states with just two days to go before the election.
US media are reporting that both candidates are making bids to reach the undecided voters who could hold the key to this year's election.
The New
York Times reports Barack Obama and John McCain, along with their running mates, kept up "a relentless pace" by visiting states their parties lost last time around.
McCain is hitting two states that voted for the Democrats in 2004 - Pennsylvania and New Hampshire - before visiting five swing states.
Obama will visit three cities in Ohio before travelling to three states that went to the Republicans in 2004 - Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
The New York Times reports that despite the last minute campaigning, many Americans have already voted.
"A record 27 million absentee and early votes were cast in 30 states as of Saturday night, according to The Associated Press," reports the Times.
Meanwhile the Washington Post describes the rhetoric as heating up as the two candidates are "sprinting" through states.
Obama has attacked his counterpart after Dick Cheney endorsed McCain on the weekend.
"He [McCain] served as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years," Obama is quoted in the Post as saying.
The Post goes on to say McCain has again attacked Obama as "too liberal and inexperienced for the presidency" and cast doubt on Obama's patriotism.
The Los Angeles Times reports a "flurry of appearances in several key states" by the two candidates.
The paper notes one of the differing factors in the two sides is the soundtrack they use at their rallies.
"Republicans tapped country star Gretchen Wilson, who warmed up the crowd in Marietta, Ohio, with her hit "Redneck Woman." Democrats are counting on rocker Bruce Springsteen, who is scheduled to perform at an Obama rally in Cleveland this afternoon," reports the Times.
The paper also makes mention in another article that neither candidate believes the election result is a foregone conclusion, despite some of the poll results.
"Don't believe for a second that this election is over," Obama is quoted as telling a crowd outside Las Vegas.
The paper goes on to quote McCain: "Volunteer! Knock on doors!" he told supporters in rural Pennsylvania.
The Wall Street Journal reports that polls in the marginal states of Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Florida are all leaning towards Obama.
The Journal also devotes column inches to the thrust and counter-thrust of rhetoric that is passing between the candidates.
Meanwhile the Boston Globe reports a shift in the South.
"The racial divides that have buttressed Republican power in the South for decades appear to be crumbling in this year's elections," the Globe reports.
The paper reports that despite the conservatism, "demographic changes - including a migration of voters from other regions, as well as an increase in education and racial tolerance among some younger residents - " have given Obama an "opening".
"[...]Obama, aided by a massive voter registration campaign and population shifts in the region, appears poised to break that Republican stranglehold," reports the paper.
Polls show the state leaning toward Sen. Obama, as were New Hampshire and Florida. McCain was campaigning Sunday in all three states.
