Battleground ’16: Election Day Is Finally Here

NEW YORK — But not yet gone.

There is still time today for the pundits to turn to electoral maps and potentially a few nationally-televised meltdowns on the major media networks, and much more time after that for the historians to judge President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy. For now, we, like many American voters, can take comfort, and a moment — or hours waiting in line at the polls — to reflect on one of the most bombastic, caustic, and utterly fantastic American presidential elections in our lifetimes as it draws to a close.

And that, for all the threats to withdraw from alliances at the foundation of the global order and to close America’s famed doors to refugees on the basis of their religion, for all the episodes of cyber espionage believed to be directed by the Russian state and warring leaks out of institutions from WikiLeaks to the FBI, for all the mutation and proliferation of terrorist threats and unending war — in the end, the very American voters whom Republican nominee Donald Trump maligned to motivate his presidential campaign are the ones who appear ready to hand him the loss he so fears. And the candidate whom Obama himself called (with sly self-deprecation) the most qualified to ever run for the presidency, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, appears positioned to win.

And America’s first black president appears likely to hand off the title of commander in chief to the country’s first woman president.

We can still savor that history-making moment. It’s not yet gone.

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Will the Expat Vote Matter in 2016?

If the election is tight, record-high overseas balloting might make a difference.

“‘No, no, no, no. I don’t want any credit if we lose.’”

— During a Monday rally in Saracosta, Florida, GOP nominee Donald Trump describes his response to being told his campaign would get a “tremendous amount of credit, win or lose.”

Obama Is Scrambling to Nail Down His Foreign-Policy Legacy

Even if Clinton wins, some of the president’s biggest national security and diplomatic policies aren’t a sure thing.

With less than three months left in office, President Barack Obama will soon relinquish his foreign-policy legacy to the gimlet-eyed gaze of historians and presidential scholars. But before that happens, the White House is hellbent on completing an ambitious to-do list that will face a considerable head wind in Congress.

Alert: Hillary Clinton Is Stealing the Election in Ohio*

*Hacking voting machines isn’t necessarily what you should be worried about. It’s fake headlines like this one that could upend Election Day.

False claims of election hacking and voter fraud and suppression could cause widespread chaos and cast into question the validity of the election outcome. And such a misinformation campaign, experts say, is far easier to pull off than hacking election machines on a mass scale and picking a winner.

+3.0

Hillary Clinton’s lead nationwide, according to a Real Clear Politics average of final polls.

Could Hillary the Hawk Have a Dove to Thank for Control of the Senate?

If Dems win the senate, they may have a foreign policy-heavy senate race in Wisconsin — and a dove in Russ Feingold — to thank for it.

Come, Let’s Check in on Melania Trump’s Native Slovenia

On America’s election eve, we ask: How is Melania Trump’s native Slovenia doing?

This Lifetime GOP Voter Is With Her

Why I’m voting for Hillary Clinton, and why real Republicans should, too.

Dictators Everywhere Are Stumping for Trump

From Cambodia to Zimbabwe to North Korea, the Republican nominee has cornered the authoritarian autocrat demographic.

Sign up for FP’s Editors’ Picks newsletter here to receive Battleground ’16, our take on the presidential race, each Wednesday through November.

Getty Images/Foreign Policy illustrations