"People on the Clinton Campaign Who Don't Even Smoke are Outside Smoking"

Yet another quote from CNN's roundup of Election Night across the media. There are some entertaining things here. Especially John Dickerson's befuddlement. 

And this remark from Judy Woodruff.

"We went into the night knowing there was a chance Trump could win," PBS "NewsHour" anchor Judy Woodruff said. "But all the smart people said it was not going to happen."

It's hard to think of a better epitaph for the left.

John Dickerson: "I just remember a period of -- just -- there just was not clarity."

John Dickerson: "We knew something was going on here, but we didn't know what it was."

John Dickerson: "We knew it was going Trump's way. The question was where, and why."

John Dickerson: "This really interesting thing is happening. Can you be the first one to put your finger on why?"

Not... clarity.

Carolyn Ryan: "Amy Chozick, our Clinton reporter, told me, 'People on the Clinton campaign who don't even smoke are outside smoking. There's this crazy nervousness.'"

They picked the wrong week to quit smoking.

The New York Times held a ticketed event at its conference center for political junkies who wanted to spend election night with Times reporters and columnists.

Carolyn Ryan: "I went down to the Times Center to talk to this group, it was probably 400 people, and they had been in this bubble for a few hours. I said, 'Florida's looking very uncertain for Clinton.' They just gasped."

Not what they had paid for.

Annie Linskey was still reporting from Clinton HQ.

Linskey: "I was probably the last person to know that Clinton was going to lose. Because in this bubble, there was constant reassurance coming from the campaign -- 'don't worry.'"

That was what they were paid for.

At the Javits Center, Abby D. Phillip had been interviewing Clinton aides on camera for the Post's live webcast. One of them, Zerlina Maxwell, was scheduled for a 9:30 interview.

Phillip: "Maxwell was physically there at the live shot location. She was on her phone. She looked up and said, 'I can't do this.' That's when things were starting to look very, very iffy for them in a number of states. When they canceled that hit, I realized, this is pretty serious."

Phillip walked to the event hall to look for Clinton aides. There was no one.

They were all out smoking and drinking.

Abby D. Phillip, reporting from the Clinton event: "People in the crowd were starting to drink more."

And the media had gambled and lost.