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That same year, Britain's left-leaning Guardian newspaper ran a public campaign targeting a critical county in Ohio with a letter-writing blitz, urging people there to vote for John Kerry.

It was a bid to give foreigners a say in the US presidential election. Clark County was a swing district in a swing state; in 2000 Al Gore won the area by a narrow margin.

In 2008 of course the world rallied firmly behind Barack Obama. Two hundred thousand people turned out to see the candidate in Berlin before the election. Italian trattorias started a roaring trade in Obama pizzas, a curious, un-Italian mix of ham and pineapple toppings.

So, what does the world make of Donald Trump? Mr Trump has some admirers in Europe. A few on the extreme end of the political spectrum like his tough line on immigration. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the French National Front, said if he were American he'd vote Trump.

What really matters is whether the 6-10% of voters in the middle of the American political spectrum, the people who actually decide elections here, are swayed by global opinion. And they may be, for two reasons.

middle-class and working-class people have been neglected by the existing political establishment,

But the voices of support are drowned out by almost universal condemnation. When it comes to Trump, Europe is apoplectic. Fascinated, but appalled.

Here's a sample of the public disapproval. Germany's Der Spiegel has called Trump the most dangerous man in the world. Britain's David Cameron says his plan to ban Muslims is divisive and unhelpful.

The French liberal newspaper Liberation has described him as a nightmare turned reality. JK Rowling tweeted that he's worse than Voldemort

Will the international reaction make a shred of difference to Trump's chances of getting nominated and then elected? 2004 would suggest not.

There are echoes of Trumpism in the nationalist parties of Britain, Denmark, Netherlands, Greece as well as France.

Invoking global opinion in the context of US elections is a fool's errand. Perfectly understandably, voters in Paris, Pennsylvania, really don't give a damn what voters in Paris, France, think about their political choices. And why should they?

At the time, a local newspaper editor told the BBC that it was the well-publicised letter campaign that lost it for the Democrats. It will go down in history as one of the biggest fiascos in foreign meddling.

Imagine if your much-respected but slightly annoying older sibling (the US) came home with a fantastically unsuitable date (Trump). Part of you is titillated but part of you is appalled, thinking, "Oh my God, this could go horribly wrong." After Super Tuesday, Europe is fast moving from the former to the latter.

Although America still feels under siege from Islamic extremism, American troops are not being killed in large numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Supporting Bush was in some ways a proxy for supporting those soldiers.

It's hard to know at this stage what impact foreign opinion will have in this race, but it's fairly clear the world is not going to suddenly fall in love with the man Republicans are rapidly choosing to be their candidate for the White House.

Even if they manage to secure a slim Senate majority, Biden and Democrats could find it difficult to advance some legislative priorities in the Senate, where most bills need to clear a 60-vote procedural threshold in the 100-seat chamber.

if Democrats won, the losses would “fall squarely on the shoulders of President Trump and his actions since Nov. 3.”

Voting patterns among Cuban-Americans, senior citizens and former felons could well define who wins in Florida

this effort comes across as too little, too late

Donald Trump's campaign making inroads among citizens of Cuban heritage, who make up around one third of Miami-Dade county's population

According to the poll, 68% of Cuban Americans in Miami say they would vote in 2020 for the president and only 30% for Biden

Biden can't afford to just win in Miami

Cuban Americans have tended to vote Republican since the 1960s, an outlier among the mostly Democratic-leaning US Hispanic vote

Trump has also campaigned hard in this region

Many of these voters

have been moved by the Trump campaign's characterisation of Democrats as extremist left-wing radicals

a growing Puerto Rican community in Orlando might counter the Cuban Republican bastion in Miami

Nearly 20% of Floridians are 65 or over,

Polls suggest that the pandemic, and the way the Trump administration has responded to the emergency, may be eroding the Republican's position among older voters

Biden besting Trump by 49% to 48% among seniors in Florida

Trump won this age group by 57% to 40%

1.4 million former felons

A lot of these former felons are African American - around 90% of the time African Americans register with the Democratic party and vote for Democratic candidates

The Democrats might now obtain the vote of many ex-felons

most likely in far less numbers than they once expected

Dozens of election security experts on Monday released a letter saying claims of major hacks were unsubstantiated and absurd on their face.

Krebs headed the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) from its inception two years ago.He angered the White House over a website run by CISA dubbed “Rumor Control,” which debunks misinformation about the election, according to the three people familiar with the matter.

CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales is expected to take over

Wales has served in multiple positions within the DHS under the Trump administration and is not seen as a partisan figure, said a former colleague.

“Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow.”

White House officials had previously complained about CISA content that pushed back against false claims about the election, including that Democrats were behind a mass election fraud scheme. CISA officials declined to delete accurate information.

Among other things, one associate of Krebs said the White House was angry about a post rejecting a conspiracy theory that falsely claimed an intelligence agency supercomputer and program, purportedly named Hammer and Scorecard, could have flipped votes nationally. No such system exists, according to Krebs, election security experts and former U.S. officials.

“Chris Krebs should be commended for his service in protecting our elections, not fired for telling the truth.”

“His firing is very disappointing and appears to be an attempt to undermine the great work he and others at DHS/CISA have been doing.”

“The CISA and Director Krebs have worked diligently to safeguard our elections, provide vital support to state and local election officials, and inform the American people about what was true and what was not.”

Independent Senator Angus King said Trump was “firing Mr Krebs for simply doing his job.”

“Chris Krebs did a really good job — as state election officials all across the nation will tell you — and he obviously should not be fired,”

Senator Ben Sasse, who has been a Trump critic, was among the first Republicans to push back against the decision.

Democrats were bullish about expanding their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the election, but ended up losing at least seven seats

We keep making that mistake. This foolishness about, 'You got to be this progressive or that progressive

we were not able to discipline ourselves

That phrase — 'defund the police' — cost Jaime Harrison tremendously,

Stop sloganeering

Sloganeering kills people. Sloganeering destroys movements

let's go about the business of representing people and building hopes and aspirations for people.

Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas said these slogans gave Republicans ammunition to use in “commercial after commercial” against their candidates.