Emotions run high in final days of the campaign

Voters aren't just choosing the next president on Tuesday. They're mercifully putting the most emotionally draining and overwrought campaign in decades out of its misery.

A White House battle fought not over the direction of the nation but through blistering character attacks is triggering extreme emotions in the final days of the race.

The 2016 campaign has been dominated by explicit sexual content and racially charged rhetoric. Fuming crowds at Donald Trump's rallies harness their hatred of Hillary Clinton with the chant, "Lock her up." Clinton, meanwhile, depicts a Trump victory as an apocalyptic event.

No wonder the country is at the end of its rope.

"At this point we are all boiled frogs. We are wondering why our skin is falling off," said Tommy Vietor, who worked for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and in the White House and now co-hosts the "Keeping it 1600" podcast. "I think when this election ends and people stop for a minute and people actually reflect, they will realize how insane and horrible and unprecedented it really was."

Road to 270: CNN's latest electoral college map

Election obsession syndrome is taking hold of the country. Its main symptoms are soaring ratings for cable news shows and frequent refreshing of polling and election forecasting websites. With Clinton's lead over Trump in battleground states shrinking in the final stretch, the next two days promise to be even more nerve-wracking as both sides angle for victory.

The cover of next week's New Yorker sums up the brittle national mood -- especially among fretful liberals -- picturing a man on a train reading a newspaper with the headlines "Oh Sweet Jesus, Please God No," and "Anything But That."

Even "Saturday Night Live" has had enough. During the opening sketch Saturday, Alec Baldwin broke out of his Trump impression and turned to Kate McKinnon, who plays Clinton, and said: "I'm sorry, Kate. I just hate yelling this stuff at you like this."

"Yes, I know, right?" she answered. "This whole election has been so mean."

"I just feel gross all the time. Don't you guys feel gross all the time about this?" Baldwin asked the audience.

The pair then ran outside the studio. Baldwin hugged an African-American man and McKinnon embraced a man with a "Make America Great Again" hat who gave her a piggy-back ride while she ate cotton candy. It was a cathartic moment meant to celebrate the diversity of American life.

Photos: Final days of the 2016 campaign

Anxiety among Democrats

Among Democrats, there is a palpable sense of intense anxiety about Clinton's prospects. Her campaign was rocked when FBI Director James Comey revived her email controversy, triggering growing concern that Trump could win.

"Every Democrat I know right now is checking the validity of their passports," CNN commentator Van Jones said Friday on "Erin Burnett OutFront."

For his part, Trump has shown remarkable discipline over the past week, further unnerving Democrats who are used to baiting him into a meltdown.

Conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh crowed this week that "we have panic starting to set in in the Democrat Party and in the Drive-By Media."

On Friday, CNN modified its projected electoral map, for the first time putting Clinton's current total of electoral votes below the magic number of 270.

The Twitter account of David Plouffe, the former Obama election guru, has become a source of free therapy for nervous Democrats.

Early voting update: Battlegrounds tight with 30 million ballots cast

"Clinton path to 300+ rock solid. Structure of race not affected by Comey's reckless irresponsibility. Vote and volunteer, don't fret or wet," Plouffe tweeted on October 30.