Obama Race Toward Finish Line..Oprah expected to be at his rally!!!

As the clock struck midnight Tuesday – signaling the start of Election Day – both John McCain and Barack Obama couldn't help feeling sentimental. Obama marked the occasion with a solemn stroll through his campaign plane before it carried him home to Chicago. The Democratic hopeful shook the hand of each of the five dozen journalists aboard, some of whom had traveled with him for all 21 months of his long campaign. (One photographer, who was celebrating her birthday, even got a kiss!)

And when one in the entourage said, "Good luck," Obama simply shook his head. "It'll be fun," he replied, "fun to see how the story ends.

Everyone and their mutha wants to be part of the Barack Obama rally tonight –- including Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Diddy, and Ben Affleck. But Obama wants this night to be all about him –- as it should –- so he's asking his celeb backers to stay away, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. "There really only needs to be one star in Grant Park," says a source, "and that's Barack." They want the celebs to focus on the inauguration in January –- if that's tonight's outcome, of course. Naturally, Oprah Winfrey will be there tonight. Not even Obama tells O to go away.