0 president obama won there. governor romney will be there pat 3:00. martha: a lot of questions about pennsylvania. is pennsylvania the florida of election 2012. could pennsylvania be a place where it will be decided? they look pretty casual. they are not reacting too enthusiastically to the fact that they have governor romney and mrs. romney in their midst. but, man, what it must be like to step in front of that booth and vote for yourself, vote for your husband and the obama family did in their early voting pattern they took part in several days ago. it's go time. bill: the live look now -- we'll hang on until they leave the room. you are watching video. we believe they are still inside. when you think about how his tam pain began some five years ago, the huge disappointment when he failed to beat mike huckabee during the iowa caucuses in 2008. but the governor has since plotted and planned a strategy where he could have another shot not just at the nomination but a chance at the white house. that primary ballot that was so bruises with rick santorum fan newt gingrich and an occasional rick perry shot. then he raised a lot of money throughout the country. headed into three critical debates. the first debate in denver focused the attention of the country on him and on his campaign. now all of that stuff is on the table for the american people to decide whether this man will be their next president. martha: governor romney and his wife ann have placed their but either way we'll look back and say the last several weeks were a period of strength for governor romney. bill: see if we can pick up any word as they exit here. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. the state of massachusetts is not one of the battlegrounds we have talked about endlessly the last six months. the turnout could be lower than expected. but in the battleground states expect long lines throughout the day. just want to get a quick moment to see if we get that. so much for that. john roberts is still with us. explain the rationale for what the romney team tells you in order for them to be victorious today. what key do they need to happen? >> reporter: they need their ground game to work. they need to rack em, stack em and get em out to the polls. there are a lot of states where president obama never left the states since the 2008 election. when you look at the early voting numbers in florida and ohio, obama has the advantage. but that advantage smaller in some cases by half of what it was in '08. does governor romney have a chance to take this? yes, he does. dose have a lot of work to do today if he hopes to get it? absolutely. bill: we want to move to chicago. martha: we saw a hug between mitt romney and tagg romney who has been instrumental throughout the course of this campaign. let's swing over to the other side of this huge decision for today. president obama will spend the day in his hometown of chicago. he has no public events scheduled today. held the last campaign rally ever in his political career last night in the state of iowa. the state that launched his run for the white house five years ago. let's watch some of that. >> we didn't know what challenges would come when we began this journey or how deep the crisis would turn out. but we knew we would get through those challenges the same way this nation always has, with that determined unconquerable american spirit that says no matter how bad the storm gets, no matter how tough times are, we are all in this together. martha: an emotional moment for sure. we are told a lot of the people who were instrumental in the '08 campaign have been traveling on the plane together with president obama. first lady michelle obama joining the president on the stage. the first primarily win in iowa was a huge moment when he was battling against hillary clinton the first time around. so a lot of memories in iowa. joined now by wendall goler in chicago. what is the president doing on this last period throughout the course of these hours as waits for the big decision tonight? >> reporter: he made a tradition of playing basketball with staffers and friends on election day which has to be less stressful than sitting around nervously monitoring the exit polls. candidates don't usually campaign on election day. and the president is coming close. he and the first lady doing satellite tv interviews from chicago with radio and television stations elsewhere in the country. the first couple got in about 12:17, a little after midnight after campaigning in wisconsin, iowa and ohio. the third day in a row they have been in ohio which most campaigns see as a make or break state. the race is so close former press secretary robert gibbs said the president didn't want to distract from the get out the vote effort by doing interviews in person today. >> we felt it was important not to go into a state and take our field volunteers away from the task they are doing to support the president or have a rally. i think it was the right decision. the president will still be in a number of battle ground states over satellites television. >> reporter: the president and the first lady did their early voting in october. martha: the president got a little bit emotional. >> reporter: it was iowa, the state that launched his presidential bid where he won the caucasus with 37% of the vote. ohio may be the most important battleground state but the president and the first lady were sentimental about iowa. she talked about house parties in cedar rapids. he told the crowd he was asking for their help one last time. >> i come back to iowa one last time to ask for your vote. i came back to ask you to help us finish what we started. because this is where our movement for change began. right here. >> reporter: sometime tonight mr. obama will thank voters for four more years or congratulate mitt romney from the stage right behind me. martha: wendall, thank you very much. so remember to tune in tonight. our special election coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern on fox news channel and we'll be with bret baier, megan kelly. i'll be doing the exit polls. bill: which is always fascinating. martha: you start to get a sense of what people were thinking. what mattered to them as they walked out of the exit polls. bill: i'll be on the billboard receiving realtime information from the precincts and counties. you will see how the about thele ground states develop. concerns that ballots are not being properly tallied in a critical swing state in we'll tell you how authorities are reacting to what could be a problem in the end. martha: a member of the new black panther party outside a philadelphia polling place. we'll tell you what he said when he was questioned about his roll by fox news. >> an 11th hour decision by mitt romney to campaign in two critical battleground states. >> if there is anyone who wonders in the american dream is fating away or better paychecks are things of the past. i have a clear and unequivocal message. with the right leadership, america is going to come roaring back. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement