A historic election no matter the ...

A historic election no matter the outcome

Americans go to the polls Tuesday in what is already one of the most historic elections since the nation began.

And it will make more history once the votes are counted.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, could become the nation's first African-American president.

If Republican nominee Sen. John McCain wins, he would be the oldest person elected to a first term as president, and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, would be the first woman vice president.

Americans are expected to head to the polls in record numbers Tuesday, election officials have predicted.

In Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, 100 percent of registered voters -- all 21 of them -- cast their ballots just after midnight in the first moments of Tuesday morning. For the first time in 40 years, the town voted Democratic in the presidential election, 15 to 6.

Record numbers have already cast ballots in early voting. As of Monday, more than 24 million voters had voted. Election experts predicted more than a third of the electorate would have voted before the polls opened on Election Day.

The 2008 presidential election has also proved to be the most expensive in history.