However, it is precisely the intense hatred toward Clinton among some in the GOP that could be a way for Obama to move this object. To the extent that it looks like Clinton will win (particularly if polls show moderate Republicans and independents abandoning Trump), the party might prefer a moderate nominee under Obama to the possibility of a more liberal nominee (and a Democratic-controlled Senate) under Clinton. Indeed, if Clinton wins, today’s GOP-run Senate could, as its one of its last acts, grab the moderate that they know rather than take that risk.

A more extreme scenario will occur if Democrats lose the presidential race but win a majority in the Senate. There will then be a short window during which the new Senate takes power and overlaps with the waning Obama administration. Under the Constitution, the new senators get sworn in Jan. 3 and Obama leaves office Jan. 20. That gives Democrats control of both the White House and the Senate for 17 days.

If the newly empowered Senate Democrats wanted to confirm Obama’s nominee before he left, and if they didn’t have the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, they’d have to change their rules. The Democrats enraged Republicans in 2013 with a rules change allowing most presidential nominees, but not Supreme Court nominees, to be confirmed by a simple majority vote. They’d now have to go all the way and get rid of the Supreme Court exception — a position they would no doubt regret when, days later, a Republican president took the oath.