U.S. envoy to Canada predicts nail biter in Obama-Romney showdown

OTTAWA – U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson is predicting that his country’s presidential election likely won’t be decided until the wee hours of Wednesday.

The envoy is making the prediction less than two hours before the first polls close in the U.S. race between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Jacobson is welcoming politicians, dignitaries and fellow Americans to a tony downtown Ottawa hotel ballroom to watch the results.

Jacobson notes that he is the ambassador for all Americans, be they Democrat or Republican.

But four years ago he was by Obama’s side as he nervously worked the phones on that historic election day.

Jacobson says Obama has enough of a lead in this race to capture key swing states and win a second term, but not before a nail-biting finish.

“I think it’s going to be close,” he said Tuesday. “I wouldn’t make any plans for early tomorrow morning. This election was going to be close from the start.”

Four years ago, Jacobson was in a Chicago hotel with Obama “and we were making calls to voters because everyone was too nervous to do anything else.

“Then we went out to Grant Park with 200,000 people, and it was really one of the most moving and exciting nights I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Jacobson was expected to retreat to his official residence early this evening to watch the returns privately.

He spent the early part of the evening greeting a first few arriving guests, who began to file into the Drawing Room of the historic Chateau Laurier hotel next to Parliament Hill.

Red, white and blue balloons dotted the room, while four large flat screen televisions filled one wall, as cardboard cutouts of the two candidates stood smiling in one corner.