Three of the four top presidential primary candidates zipped through town on the eve of today's Super Tuesday vote, making Boston look a shade more like the Hub of the Universe than it has in any presidential primary in history.
Supporters turned out by the hundreds, reflecting the interest in the hotly contested races in both parties, and the excitement among Massachusetts voters about playing a meaningful role in choosing the presidential nominees for the first time in recent memory.
"I think it's exciting to people of all ideologies and parties," said Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who predicted that more than 1.3 million of the state's 4 million registered voters would cast ballots today and led the effort to change the primary date from March to February. "We did the right thing by moving it up."
John McCain started his day with a fund-raiser at the Hyatt in Chinatown and then spoke at storied Faneuil Hall, where, in an apparent jab at former governor Mitt Romney, he stood beside Romney's two Republican predecessors, former governor Paul Cellucci and former acting governor Jane Swift. "I believe we have a very good shot at carrying the state of Massachusetts tomorrow," McCain said to applause.
Hillary Clinton drew an enthusiastic crowd to an afternoon rally in Worcester, where she responded to Barack Obama's argument that he is the purer Democrat who is better positioned to challenge the Republican nominee in November.
"I heard my opponent's going around telling people I wouldn't make a clean break with George Bush," she said before listing areas of difference with the president. "Unity is important, but unity for what is more important."
The president, she asserted, had taken the country on "a detour" from its destiny.
Later, she greeted volunteers in Dorchester, where about 550 callers made more than 50,000 calls to voters yesterday afternoon, the campaign said. Clinton, who was joined by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, went around the conference center shaking hands and posing for photographs.
Nancy Russell, 54, a management consultant from the Back Bay, said she got an e-mail about the event yesterday morning and decided to take a couple of hours off work to make calls on Clinton's behalf.
"I feel so passionately about her being the next president," she said. "She knows the issues better than any of the candidates on either side."
Another volunteer, Celeste Howe, a 47-year-old singer and mother, drove all the way from West Barnstable for the event.
"It's just a thrill to see them in person, and to feel the energy in the room," she said. "We matter now, and that was part of my reason for coming today - Massachusetts is going to count."
As Clinton headed off to catch a flight to New York City to appear on the "Late Show with David Letterman," thousands of people were lining up in front of the Seaport World Trade Center, where Obama held a massive rally last night with Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Governor Deval Patrick.
By the time the doors opened, the admission line, four people across, stretched to the bridge on Atlantic Avenue. The rally had been scheduled for 8 p.m. but did not start until about 10:30 p.m., leaving many waiting outside for hours. A
First in line was Gary Stringer, 36, who works for a moving company in Cambridge, and who lined up to see the man he called "the greatest guy of all time" at 11:30 a.m. to make sure he got in.
"If Obama was going to come here at 3 a.m., I would stay here," he said.
Obama, in a meandering speech that betrayed his hoarse and tired voice, recounted his yearlong journey running for president, saying his belief that the country desired change had been confirmed.
"After crisscrossing the country, after shaking thousands of hands and having thousands of conversations and eating hundreds of chicken dinners, logging thousands of miles on airplanes and in cars, I'm here to report that my bet has paid off, and my faith in the American people has been fully vindicated," Obama said. "Because the American people are looking for change in America."
The crowd whooped, shouted "Yes!" and "O-BA-MA," and hollered "We're fired up!"
The crowd finally filed out at midnight.
Elizabeth Shinyuy, 29, of Whitman, who waited for more than four hours for the event to start, said it was worth it.
"Starving, backache, everything, but you know what?" she said. "I feel like something is going on out there and I feel like I'm a part of it."
If Galvin's prediction comes true, the voter turnout would surpass the less than 1.1 million who cast ballots in 2000, the last time there were competitive primaries in both parties. About 700,000 voters turned out in 2004, when the primaries were held March 2 after many other states had already voted and when President Bush was uncontested for the Republican nomination.
The candidates are devoting so much attention to Massachusetts this year partly because of the high stakes. In contests in which every delegate counts, the Bay State offers the fifth most delegates of the 22 states with Democratic contests today and the 10th most among the 21 states with Republican contests.
A 7News/Suffolk University poll released yesterday showed Democrats statistically tied, with Obama at 46 percent and Clinton at 44 percent. On the Republican side, Romney led McCain 50 percent to 37 percent, with Mike Huckabee at 4 percent, and Ron Paul at 3 percent.
Romney was the only leading candidate who did not visit Massachusetts yesterday. At a stop in Atlanta, he shrugged off McCain's trip to Boston.
"I've got a lot of friends there," he told supporters at the Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center, adding: "I spent my time in Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Missouri, and right here in Georgia, where I'm going to win!"
Marcella Bombardieri, Scott Helman, Sasha Issenberg, and Michael Levenson of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
