Watch US poll developments live online

As the countdown begins for the US Presidential election, some websites help you keep track of every move of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, engaged in frantic get-out-the-vote efforts, made final pleas to voters in a sprint through battleground states that will determine who wins their agonizingly close White House race on Tuesday.

Both candidates sought to generate strong turnout from supporters and to sway independent voters to their side in the last hours of the race that polls showed was deadlocked nationally. Obama had a slight lead in the eight or nine battleground states that will decide the race on Tuesday.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos national poll of likely voters, a daily tracking poll, gave Obama a slight edge, with 48 per cent support compared to Romney's 46 per cent. The difference was within the 3.4 percentage point credibility interval, which allows for statistical variation in Internet-based polls.

Obama was up 4 percent in must-win Ohio, 50 per cent to 46 per cent, and held slimmer leads in Virginia and Colorado. Romney led in Florida by 1 percentage point, the poll found.

The president, with a final-day itinerary that included stops in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa, urged voters to stick with him and trust that his economic policies are working. He traveled with rocker Bruce Springsteen.

Romney's final day included stops in Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire. He pledged that he would handle the economy better than Obama and jabbed his opponent for blaming Republican predecessor George W. Bush for the weak economy.

The candidates are seeking to piece together the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory in the state-by-state battle for the presidency.

Despite the close national opinion polls, Obama has an easier path to victory: If he wins the three states he was visiting on Monday - Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa - then he would likely carry the day.

If you are banking on the Internet to catch all the action on the US elections, there is a link which is providing live streaming of the Presidential Elections. The UStream link (http://www.ustream.tv/election2012) is currently providing live streaming of Mitt Romney's speech.

Another link that provides live coverage of the US Presidential elections is Politico.com (http://www.politico.com/2012-election/swing-state/). The website apparently has news, analysis and any other other information one may need on the US Elections. According to the website, Obama has overtaken Romney in the Swing States.

Apart from these sites, one could always bank on Twitter for live updates on the US Elections. So, who according to you should be the next President? Mitt Romney or Barack Obama? Do let us know.

The story was first published on www.ciol.com