Presidential politics is my spectator sport. I follow political figures constantly, and every four years, the first Tuesday in November is my Super Bowl and the World Series rolled into one.

Well, usually. Sometimes the game drags into overtime. That was the case in 1968, when Richard Nixon wasn’t determined the winner until well into the next day. In 1968—a landmark election year for sure—I learned that Nixon had won the morning after--just before class in 9th grade.

The most notorious delay was in 2000, when the contest between Al Gore and George W. Bush was so razor thin, it came down to several recounts. Week after week, election officials in Florida examined punch-card ballots with hanging chads, swinging chads and dimpled chads. In the end, the US Supreme Court ruled to stop the hand counting, and Bush became President by just 537 votes and one Supreme Court justice

One could argue that the contest could have ended far differently had Gore carried his home state of Tennessee and one or two others. But he didn’t.

There are always coulda shoulda wouldas in politics. A decision made here, a comment made there—especially a gaffe-- can affect how people vote or whether they vote at all.

Too often, the surprises hinge on history we don’t know.

Back in 2000, some thought the election problems in Florida were something new. Those people weren’t familiar with what happened there in 1876. That year, Ohio Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican war hero, was running against Samuel Tilden, the Democrat governor of New York. Neither candidate won the electoral majority. In fact, Tilden was only one vote shy of the 185 required to win the Electoral College.

Passions ran high with Florida at the center of the controversy. Without precedents or laws set up to determine the winner, Congress set up an advisory commission who haggled for nine days before striking a deal. In the end, Hayes was declared the winner.

This year, I’ve followed the various pollsters and pundits for months.  I believe Trump will win this time. And while anything is possible, few if any predict an Electoral tie.

Electoral votes are generally winner-take-all within a state. But the way the system is set up, a candidate may win the popular vote and lose the Electoral College. Cases in point: Al Gore in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

A state’s electors are determined by the number of senators (always two) and the number of congressional seats assigned to a state. North Carolina, for example, has 16 electoral votes determined by our representation in Washington: two Senators and 14 members of Congress.

Whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump win the Presidency, the election will make history. Harris, of course, would become the first female President. Trump would become the second chief executive to serve two non-consecutive terms.

The first split-term President was Grover Cleveland, who won in 1884 and again in 1892.

Amazingly, Trump and Cleveland have a few things in common. Both men had five children and hailed from New York. Cleveland, a Democrat, was, in fact Mayor of Buffalo and New York’s governor before seeking the White House.

Trump, a former Democrat, is a New York billionaire, having scored big in real estate and other business ventures.

Both men were honed in on business interests and faced inflation and immigration issues during their first terms.

Cleveland, like Trump, was hampered by a morals scandal, before his term as President. He fathered a child with a mistress prior to his marriage to Frances Folsum, 28 years his junior.

Former First Lady Melania Trump is 16 years younger than her husband, who has been taken to court for sexual misconduct before his term in office.

Both Cleveland and Trump have ties to New Jersey. Trump owns a golf course in Bedminster; Cleveland was born in Caldwell, N.J. and spent his last years in Princeton, where he is buried.

---EDITOR’S NOTE: Tammy Wilson is a writer who lives near Newton.