Suspense to the end, Obama, Romney yield to voters

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Romney argued that Obama had his chance to help Americans financially and blew it. "If it comes down to economics and jobs, this is an election I should win," Romney told Cleveland station WTAM.

With both sides keeping up the onslaught of political ads in battleground states right into Election Day, on one thing, at least, there was broad agreement: "I am ready for it to be over," said nurse Jennifer Walker in Columbus, Ohio.

The election played out with intensity in the small subset of battleground states: Colorado, Iowa, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. Romney’s late move to add Pennsylvania to the mix was an effort to expand his options, and Republicans poured millions into previously empty airwaves there.

In the campaign’s final hours, voters around the country echoed the closing arguments of the two presidential candidates.

Jim Clark, a 42-year-old computer administrator from Topeka, Kan., is a registered Republican who voted for Obama in 2008, seeking change. But he voted Tuesday for Romney after losing a full-time job two years ago and working temporary assignments since then.

"I’m just ready for a change," Clark said. "It’s tougher for me, personally. The economy has not improved."

Lauren Clay, 28, a doctoral student in disaster science and management, voted for Obama.

"He has a done a really good job given what he was handed four years ago," she said.

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Pickler reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Julie Pace in Chicago, Wayne Parry in Point Pleasant, N.J., Patrick Walters in Philadelphia, John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Matthew Daly in Wilmington, Del., and Philip Elliott in Cleveland contributed to this report.

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