Mitt Romney dashed from his Belmont voting place to make last-minute campaign stops in Ohio and Pennsylvania. President Obama campaigned via satellite from Chicago as he urged voters to support him.

And in the end, in the American tradition, the candidates for president on this last day of the campaign ceded the power to the polling place, with little left for pundits and pollsters to say. Millions of Americans, having heard the arguments and advertisements for months, had the final word.