Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Voters waited in lines for hours at polling places across the nation as Democrat Barack Obama sought to hold off an upset bid by Republican John McCain and become the first African-American to win the U.S. presidency.

Energized by a two-year, history-making campaign, voters began showing up well before dawn to cast ballots. Lines were particularly long in Virginia, which could be a harbinger if Obama becomes the first Democrat since 1964 to prevail in what was the seat of the Old Confederacy.

``We're voting in a historical time,'' said Lashawne Jenkins, 40, a catering manager who was among more than 100 people awaiting the opening of a polling station at Bethel African Methodist Church in Detroit. ``You should be ashamed if you don't vote.''

The scene outside the Detroit church was repeated across the country. Voters stood for two hours and more in a 300-yard line that stretched outside a polling place in Silver Spring, Maryland, and 75 people waited to cast ballots at John Oldham Elementary School in Norwood, Massachusetts.

Supporters Thanked

Polling places were closed in parts of Indiana and Kentucky in the Eastern time zone. While Kentucky is safely in the Republican column, Obama and McCain were in a close fight for the electoral votes of Indiana, which hasn't voted for the Democratic presidential candidate since 1964.

With 10 of 3,541 precincts reporting in Kentucky, McCain had 60 percent of the vote to Obama's 38 percent.

Initial surveys of voters showed the economy was the biggest issue in the election, cited by 62 percent of voters, according to CNN. By contrast 10 percent cited the war in Iraq.

Exit poll data released by Fox News showed young voters were going to Obama, 69 percent to 28 percent. Obama also got 72 percent of ``new'' voters.

Obama, who began his candidacy 22 months ago where Abraham Lincoln gave his ``House Divided'' speech, closed his historic campaign last night near the site of the Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War. He thanked his supporters at a 90,000-person rally in Manassas, Virginia.

``You've filled me with new hope for our future, and you've reminded me about what makes America so special,'' said Obama, who received word yesterday that his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died at age 86 after a battle with cancer.

`Fired Up'

Encouraging voters to not let up before the polls close, Obama revived a chant he used throughout the primaries though rarely in the general election: ``Fired Up, Ready to Go.''

Obama voted at Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School in his Hyde Park, Illinois, neighborhood at 7:54 a.m. He missed bumping into his neighbors and 1960s radicals Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, who showed up to vote a few minutes earlier.

The McCain campaign has made Obama's ties to Ayers an issue, with vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accusing the Democratic standard-bearer of ``palling around with terrorists.''

Soon after, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden voted in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware.

McCain voted at Albright United Methodist Church in Phoenix at 9:15 a.m. local time. About 30 supporters serenaded Alaska Governor Palin with ``God Bless America'' when she voted in the town of Wasilla, where she had been mayor.

Energizing Voters

McCain was behind in polls nationally and either trailed or was in a close fight in a dozen states won by President George W. Bush in the last election. Still, he sought to keep his supporters energized.

At his final campaign rally in Grand Junction, Colorado, this afternoon, McCain said he had ``momentum.''

Pundits ``may not know it, but the Mac is back,'' he told a crowd of 2,000 supporters in an airport hangar. ``We're going to win it.''

The Republican nominee headed back to Phoenix to watch the election returns. Palin will fly from her home to join him.

After voting, Obama went to Indiana for a final campaign stop before heading back to Chicago for an outdoor election night party in Grant Park. Biden will join him there after attending a rally in Richmond, Virginia.

Pre-Election Polls

The last of the pre-election polls all showed Obama leading even as McCain closed the gap in several states. Obama's average lead was 7 percentage points in a dozen polls that concluded interviews on Nov. 2.

In state polls, Obama led in the battlegrounds of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada. All except Pennsylvania went for Bush in 2004. The two candidates were in a closer fight in Florida, North Carolina and Indiana, also Republican states in the last election.

Virginia's Polls

Virginia's polls close at 7 p.m. Washington time in the first wave of states to finish.

An estimated 30 percent of Virginia's eligible voters had cast their ballots by 10 a.m. in an unprecedented crush of early-morning voting, said Nancy Rodrigues, the state's top election official. Voters lined up for a half mile at one precinct in Petersburg, and 500 voters waited to cast ballots at another in Virginia Beach, she said.

In Vienna, Virginia, Hal Corby, a retired registered Republican, cast his ballot for McCain, saying he saw no reason to change the state's traditional voting pattern.

``I don't trust the other guy,'' said Corby, 69. ``McCain will hold down spending and Obama won't.''

Another Vienna voter, Jim Whitcomb, a 59-year-old government employee and registered Democrat, said the Republicans under Bush for eight years have mismanaged the economy at home and alienated allies abroad.

``The country is a mess and it's because of the Republican Party,'' said Whitcomb, who voted for Obama. ``The U.S. is really going off on its own in the wrong direction with virtually no friends in the world.''

Coming Out Early

In North Carolina, Obama supporters came out early.

Marcus Farmer, who didn't vote in 2004, showed up at 6:25 a.m. ``I regret not voting four years ago,'' said Farmer, 31. ``I'm really tired of George Bush.''

Ian Kaplan, a student at New York Law School, stood in a predominantly Democratic line on Wall Street in Manhattan for an hour to cast his ballot for McCain.

He is ``stronger on the economy, foreign policy, energy policy and more experienced than Obama,'' said Kaplan, 25.

Early indications are that young voters are coming out in greater numbers than in 2004, according to the non- partisan Rock the Vote.

Clark Jones, 18, received encouragement from other voters at the James Bowie Elementary School in Dallas, which he had attended less than a decade earlier.

``It was interesting to step back and hear everyone talking and think, `Hey, I can vote,'' said Jones, who selected Obama.

Easing Lines

Figures show almost a third of presidential ballots were cast before Election Day, which may have eased waiting times today. At Renfroe Middle School in Decatur, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, Devery Gauthier, 45, only had to wait 20 minutes.

``I am shocked it was so short,'' said Gauthier, a corporate treasury manager at Global Payments Inc., who voted for Obama.

Last week, some Georgia voters waited an hour and a half to cast ballots.

Things began slowly in North Miami Beach, Florida, where matching people's identification with the voter rolls led to an hour wait, said Gale Prawda, 59, a poll deputy. Poll workers divided the line to shrink the waiting time to 20 minutes, she said.

Election Protection, a coalition of lawyers and civil liberties groups, said malfunctioning machines were plaguing voters in Cleveland, Ohio, and across Virginia and Pennsylvania. Some Pennsylvania polling spots also were running out of paper ballots, the Washington-based group said.

About 700 voters in Kansas City, Missouri, waited eight hours to cast their vote before they were told to return at a time when the polls were actually closed, the group said.

In the first votes cast on Election Day, Obama defeated McCain 15-6 in Dixville Notch, according to the Associated Press, and 17-10 in Hart's Location, both in New Hampshire. By tradition, polls in both towns open at midnight local time.

The two hamlets, with a combined population of more than 100 people, generally lean Republican. In 2004, Bush beat Democratic Senator John Kerry 35-21, though Kerry won the state.

To contact the reporters responsible for this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington jbliss@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 4, 2008 18:43 EST