After four years of campaigning, more than $US1billion (about $A1.4billion) in political donations, talk of lipstick, pitbulls and moose shootin' and the emergence of a dude named Joe the Plumber, the United States has a new president. Well, a President-elect until January 20.
Voters elected Barack Obama, son of a Kenyan economist and Kansas woman, to be the 44th president, the first African American in the job, and the man anointed to fix Iraq, Afghanistan, the world economy, global warming and fractured relationships with governments around the world.
The 2008 election will be remembered for the torrid battle between Democratic top dogs Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the surprise rise-from-the-ashes campaign of Republican candidate John McCain.
We watched as one-time Republican favourite and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani made one of the biggest political blunders of all time. He sat out of the early Republican primaries, instead concentrating on winning the key state of Florida.
By the time the Florida primary took place, voters had forgotten that Giuliani was even in the race.
We saw one-time squeaky clean Democrat presidential hopeful John Edwards caught with his underpants around his ankles.
The National Enquirer broke the news that Edwards had an affair with a woman he hired to produce campaign videos.
The election also introduced the world to a group of characters so colourful they could be cast in a television sitcom. One of them actually is a sitcom star.
Here's a recap of the major players of the 2008 US presidential election.
GEORGE W. BUSH
George who?
Is George W. Bush still President?
Obama holds a media conference on TV every second day.
He looks and sounds like the president.
Are you sure Bush didn't sneak out the back door of the White House in May, hide the keys under the mat and catch a Greyhound bus home to Texas?
No, sorry, a quick call to the White House just confirmed Bush is still there.
It's not uncommon for a president in the final months as commander-in-chief to be a lame duck, but Bush has attained lame-goose status.
Obama officially takes the reins following his inauguration on January 20.
So, after eight years of Bush in the top job, what do we have?
Folks, we may have a candidate for worst American president in history.
The world is in economic and environmental meltdown, Osama bin Laden hasn't been smoked out of his cave and brought to justice, almost 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the 2003 US-led invasion, there have been more than 4520 coalition troop deaths (including 4209 Americans and two Australians) in Iraq, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are building strength in Afghanistan, parts of New Orleans remain abandoned, teachers are being fired from schools because of budget cuts, bridges are collapsing, torture is legal, almost 1.4million American homes are in foreclosure, 500,000 Americans lost their jobs in November ... and the list goes on.
Obama can thank Bush for one thing one very big thing his election win.
The Republicans declined to use Bush in their campaign, instead coaxing him into a dark corner and barring him from McCain campaign events. But Bush was a very prominent part of Obama's campaign. In the closing days of the election, with McCain closing the gap slightly in the polls, Obama unleashed new ads of McCain and Bush shaking hands, back-slapping and speaking words of love for each other.
PREDICTION: In retirement, George W. will put his heart and soul into opening the George W.Bush Presidential Library. It will be stocked with copies of Dr Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham and the full series of Spot the Dog books.
BARACK OBAMA
Barack Hussein Obama announced his candidacy for US president on a chilly February day in 2007, on the steps of the Old State Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois.
He was one of eight Democratic Party candidates and considered an outsider, but on June 7, 2008, his last opponent, Hillary Clinton, conceded defeat. It set up a showdown for the presidency between the Democrat Obama, a 47-year-old Harvard Law School and Columbia University graduate, against Republican Party candidate 72-year-old former prisoner of war John McCain.
On November 4, Americans went to the polls and Obama won easily 365 electoral votes to 173. The first African American president, Obama inherits a colossal mess and the world is relying on him to fulfil many promises, including finding a hypoallergenic puppy for his kids.
PREDICTION: Obama will save the world and find an allergy-friendly puppy for his kids.