So, it's the day after perhaps the ugliest election in over a hundred years in US history. I feel like no one got what they really wanted, and I have the same feeling I used to have when I watched a ballgame between two teams that I disliked, and wondered if there was any way for them to both lose.

I had seen this coming. I can readily think of two examples from recent history. The first one was the 2004 election. There were two candidates for president in that one: George W. Bush, and "Not" George W. Bush. I would imagine that many people who voted for John Kerry don't even remember whose name was in the "other" column. I never heard anyone say, "I'm really excited about Kerry. He is going to do such great things for this country!" Whenever I asked a Kerry supporter what they liked most about him, they invariably said something like, "I hate Bush." His greatest claim to fame was that he married an older woman and got into some real money from ketchup. Also, that he was on a swift boat or something. He might as well have used the campaign slogan, "I Am Not Bush." That's the great bulk of his voting bloc, and just to be frank, he came close to winning just because he was not the incumbent president.

Jump ahead 8 years. It's very similar again: an incumbent president running against "whats-his-face." The two candidates on the 2012 ballot were Barack Obama and "Not" Barack Obama. The president had some loyal supporters, but I really didn't hear anyone say, "Romney is an exciting candidate!" or "I really think Romney has some great ideas!" See, Mr. Romney could be anything. When he ran against Ted Kennedy for the senate, he was pro-choice, pro-national-health-care, and pro-gay rights. When he ran as a Republican against the Democratic president, he was just the opposite on all three of these things. And Romney didn't come as close as Kerry did, but he did make a showing in the election. Yet he was, for the most part, a major Zero. His campaign strength was, "I Am Not Obama."

But this year, our campaign makes those last two look anemic -- and nearly normal -- in comparison. This year, for maybe the first time in US history, we have two "nots" running against each other: "Not" Donald Trump running against "Not" Hillary Clinton. Yes, I hear friends from both sides: "I know my candidate is horrible, but the one one is 'horribler.'"