Mr McCain knew this was a bad year to be a Republican and was desperate to put distance between himself and Mr Bush. He wanted the election to be a referendum on his rival rather than on the past eight years.

Mr Obama was only just ahead in the polls but Mr McCain was attractive to independents and had impeccable national security credentials. The Democrat went to Europe and the Middle East to cover an exposed foreign policy flank. The tour culminated in a speech in front of 200,000 adoring Germans in Berlin. The Republicans used the film to portray him as the “biggest celebrity in the world”, splicing shots of him with Paris Hilton, before asking: “But is he ready to lead?”

Mr Obama’s team became nervous. Former Clinton aides began to question why Mr Obama was not attacking, and more than one was heard to say that Mr Obama would not win the election. Even his choice of Joe Biden, a foreign policy veteran, as his running-mate failed to enthuse voters. The Democrat convention in Denver broke the mood of despair. A peace deal was brokered with the Clintons, both of whom spoke dutifully, and and Mr Obama gave a lifting performance.

Next came the Republicans. Mr McCain did something which few could have predicted. He picked Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska and a politician with a thin CV, to be his running-mate. He had wanted Joe Lieberman, but the independent former Democrat was unpopular with the party’s evangelical wing. Instead, Mr McCain staked all on a lip-stick-on-a-pitbull hockey mom. It was the longest of long shots, and for a fortnight it seemed to work.

Sarah Palin

From the moment the Palin family walked on to the Republican convention stage on September 3, the campaign would never be the same. Now we had hockey moms, pregnant teenagers, pitbulls in lipstick, snowmobile racing and aerial wolf-hunting.

The Republicans loved it. By mid-September there were signs that John McCain’s gamble was failing after a series of interviews in which Mrs Palin, 44, the Governor of Alaska, appeared dumb and became the butt of satirists. She remains a hero to the Republican right. “Palin 2012” T-shirts are already on sale. Joe the plumber In October a new star was born. His name was Joe the Plumber. When Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Ohio met Barack Obama and challenged his tax plans the moment was seized by John McCain as proof of Mr Obama’s socialism. Mr Wurzelbacher accompanied Mr McCain on the stump in the final days but his absence proved one of the campaign’s funniest moments. “Joe, I thought you were here today,” McCain said in an awkward rally moment. Mr Wurzelbacher has since hired a publicity company and is thinking of running for Congress.

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