WHEN US President Donald Trump took an early lead in the bellwether state of Florida, it seemed that once again the polls had got it wrong, and that challenger Joe Biden would struggle to take the White House from the Republicans.
It's been obvious for some time that Americans were registering in record numbers to vote in a country where participation is voluntary.
In Australia, where voting is mandatory, a big pre-poll vote often brings bad news for the incumbent.
Last night, Mr Biden was winning the all-important "electoral college" vote 238 to 218 - 270 are needed - and he had 67 million popular votes to Mr Trump's 65 million.
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Even if Mr Trump does become a one-term president, history will record him as one of the most unforgettable characters ever to lead the US: a man with no formal political experience taking on the putative leadership of the free world at a time when its main rival - authoritarian China - had the strength to start flexing its muscles.
Although many of Mr Trump's decisions have raised eyebrows, it's been the manner of his presidency, as much as his policies themselves, that have so infuriated his adversaries and delighted "the base".
Plenty of loud mouths have held the Oval Office.
Bill Clinton was no shrinking violet.
But it's hard to imagine another president doing as Mr Trump did yesterday, taking to Twitter as the votes came in, accusing the Democrats of "trying to STEAL the Election".
With Mr Biden in front, Mr Trump was threatening to go the Supreme Court.
Anything the president doesn't like is "fake news".
Detailed logs of Trumpian "inaccuracies" by the The New York Times and others have no discernible effect: academics say we have entered the "post-truth age".
Nowhere is this more obvious than with COVID-19.
The US is the hardest hit nation, with almost 20 per cent of global cases and fatalities alike.
Friday added a record 99,000 infections, yet the Trump camp continues to ignore the common-sense option of face masks.
Mr Trump promised a vaccine before polling day, but it did not arrive.
If the Democrats win the White House, and hold the House of Representatives, they may still face a Republican Senate hostile to their efforts in steering the ship of state in a new direction.
If Mr Trump pulls off a come-from-behind win, there is no predicting what his second term could bring.
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