Pres. Obama in Chicago, doing satellite interviews on Election Day

CHICAGO -- President Barack Obama spent Election Day in Chicago. Obama closed down his campaign late Monday, November 5th with a nostalgia-filled rally in Iowa -- the state that jumpstarted his first presidential bid.

Tuesday in Chicago, President Obama made his last appeals to voters via satellite interviews.

"It all comes down to you,'' Obama told supporters in Des Moines on Monday. "It's out of my hands now. It's in yours.'' 

President Obama headed into Election Day tied with Republican challenger Mitt Romney in national polls. In some of the key battleground states, including Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin, Obama appeared to have a slight edge.

Obama spent Monday night at the South Side home where he lived with his family before moving to the White House. The Obamas had pledged to come back to Chicago frequently, but the realities of the presidency and the security concerns that come with it made those trips a rarity.

There was no traditional Election Day photo opportunity of Obama casting his ballot Tuesday. President Obama voted in Chicago last week -- part of his campaign's efforts to promote early voting. First lady Michelle Obama mailed in an absentee ballot.

One tradition Obama will keep is an Election Day basketball game.

In 2008, Obama played basketball with aides before his win in the kickoff Iowa caucuses. President Obama and his aides decided to make the games an Election Day tradition after they lost the next contest -- the New Hampshire primary -- on a day when they didn't hit the court.

"We made the mistake of not playing basketball once. I can assure you we will not repeat that,'' said Robert Gibbs, a longtime Obama aide who joined the president on the road for the campaign's waning days.

President Obama planned to have lunch and dinner at his home.

Obama was to be joined at a downtown Chicago hotel later by his family, several close friends and his top aides to watch the election returns. Once a winner is declared, Obama will climb into his black armored limousine and depart for his campaign's election night party at the McCormick Place convention center, where he will either deliver a victory speech or a concession.

Win or lose, Obama's election night party will look far different than it did four years ago, when 125,000 people gathered on an unseasonably warm night in Chicago's Grant Park. The decision to stay indoors this time appears to have been a smart one. The forecast in Chicago is for cold and rain, 26 degrees cooler than it was four years ago.

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