"We've got a black man running for president and a white woman for vice president. We'll make history either way. That's exciting," said Dan Nelson, a network specialist from Sunnyvale. But what Nelson really wants in Washington is change: "I don't like the way things are going now."

And Nelson felt that way even before the economic and political meltdowns of the past few weeks. They have created "a very dramatic shock to the electoral process," said Jacob Hacker, political science professor at the University of California-Berkeley. There's been nothing as climactic in the final months of a presidential race since the pall cast over the 1980 election by the American hostage situation in Iran, leading to Ronald Reagan's victory over Jimmy Carter, he added. LINK