The final lap of the US presidential race is here and by the end of today we will know whether the incumbent Barack Obama will get his final term in office or Republican challenger Mitt Romney goes to the White House.
With the hype and debates going for more than a year, today we bring you a special story about a couple with close links to Fiji who have been part of the Obama campaign since the last elections.
Teuila Kyler, whose maiden name was Teuila Wendt, was born in Nausori.
She went to Levuka Public School and then to Girls Grammar in Suva.
She was also a runner up in the Hibiscus Festival in 1962 which was won by Eta Uluvula-Qereqeretabua.
Kyler is part of the Obama campaign in one of the swing states - Ohio.
She was part of the door-to-door campaign team in New Philadelphia in the last elections to ensure that Obama wins.
In this election, her job was to telephone at least 130 people in a week.
The interesting issue is that the Kylers were previously supporting the Republicans.
Speaking to Fijivillage from Ohio last night, the Kylers confirmed that the Obamas keep in close contact with the campaign team members.
President Obama also wrote to them yesterday.
Her husband William Kyler, who is an attorney in Ohio, was a District Officer in Nausori in 1962 when the first public ballot was taken in Fiji.
He confirmed that while working in Nausori for a year, he met Teuila.
William Kyler said this will be one of the closest presidential races and the swing states will matter.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spent yesterday visiting key swing states and making final pitches to voters.
Romney went to Florida yesterday where polls suggest he has the edge and then to Virginia, New Hampshire and Ohio.
Obama appeared in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio, joined at rallies by Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z.
The election will be decided in just a handful of states, with Ohio in particular seen as crucial to victory.
Obama and Romney are running almost neck-and-neck in national polls, in a campaign that has cost more than US$2 billion.
But surveys of the nine or so battleground states that will determine the election show Obama narrowly ahead.
30 million Americans have already cast their ballot through early voting across 34 states.
In the 2008 presidential election, 130 million people voted.
The results are expected to be known by 6pm tomorrow.
Stay with us for updates.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
Feature
Former Fiji citizen campaigns for Obama
