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CHARLOTTE (AP) - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, campaigning in Charlotte on the eve of a historic election, made a surprise stop Monday to greet volunteers and make phone calls from one of his local field offices.

Obama made several phone calls, urging supporters to go to the polls on Election Day.

"I would love to have your support," the Illinois senator told one person on the phone. "I need you to get out tomorrow. It's going to be really close."

He told volunteers in the Charlotte office, where supporters were making signs and encouraging people to vote, that they are transforming the state. North Carolina hasn't backed a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Declaring that "if we take North Carolina, we take the election," he joked that his supporters shouldn't be partying.

"We have 36 more hours," he said. "We have to get back to work."

Obama also played with a soft foam basketball, shooting it toward a small hoop and played a little with former Boston Celtics coach M.L. Carr. He was touched by one woman, Alverna Bracy, an elderly black woman who broke down in tears when she saw Obama.

"You people are really pretty emotional," he said.

Obama's unannounced stop and rally later Monday at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was part of his eighth trip to the state since the state's May primary. Polls suggest North Carolina is a tossup.

Boosted by changing demographics and a large bloc of black voters, Obama has put the state in play and forced Republican rival John McCain to play defense.

He and running mate Sarah Palin have held seven events here in the past month, including Palin's stop in Raleigh on Saturday.

Obama's aggressive get-out-the-vote effort helped bring 2.6 million people to the polls in the early voting period that ended Saturday.

Most of those voters were registered Democrats. His final campaign day also included stops in Florida and Virginia.