But by the final, frenetic sprint of the 2020 race, the world had long peered into the country's darkest corners and seen a battered and haunted image staring back.
The presidency and control of the Senate are in the balance, but for many, there was something even more urgent.
“Tuesday is our big deal as a country!” Trump said on Sunday, as he braved flurries and a stiff wind chill in Michigan.
In Texas, Trump supporters in cars and trucks swarmed around a Biden campaign bus at high speed on a highway.
___Associated Press writers Alex Jaffe traveling with Biden, Zeke Miller with Trump, and Kathleen Ronayne with Harris contributed to this report.