As the icy wind howled outside and downtown Cleveland began to look like the Kingdom of Narnia, the bar-stool pundits at the Marriott hotel were at a loss.
The midnight hour was approaching.
They had been looking forward to closure from the Democrats; they had spit-polished their political obituaries of Hillary Clinton; they were preparing to shed tears of defeat or joy and yearning for liberation from the marathon of instant analysis, number crunching and fickle opinions that had, quite frankly, exhausted them.
"Enough already! Let's rest, recover and reboot for the really big campaign in the summer."
Until the voters of Ohio and Texas spoiled it all by breathing new life into Hillary's campaign.
After two months of gorging themselves on more politics than they could ever have imagined, the bar-stool pundits were beginning to feel like hostages at an eat-all-you-can buffet.
"Mr Obama is reduced to reassuring his supporters that she has barely eaten into his delegate lead"
Dave, the septuagenarian retiree from upstate New York, was an Obama Republican. He had driven his ailing friend to the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center - one of the best on the planet - and he was spent.
Suddenly, though, he stopped staring at the amber ice cubes, cleared his throat and recaptured the floor.
"I know what could save Obama's candidacy," he intoned. "He should choose Prince Harry as his running mate. He knows about war. It would add soldierly grit to Obama's ticket."
Our picture editor, Bill, chimed in: "And it would make Obama look older and wiser." The bar stools quaked with laughter.
Security fears
These days, no idea is off-limits. In the past two weeks, the Clinton campaign has accused Mr Obama of plagiarism and questioned his Christian credentials.
Then there was the row over "the red phone ad". It is ringing in the White House at 3am, while your kids are fast asleep and vulnerable in their beds.
Mrs Clinton asked: who would you trust more to pick up that phone? Me or the 47-year-old from Illinois?
Mr Obama shot back: it's not picking up the phone that counts but what you say into it. Like... let's invade Iraq.
All valid points, except the phone isn't red. It's black. Apparently the ad worked in Texas, where the myriad of military communities are worried about homeland security.
In Ohio, something else worked for Hillary.
Her campaign leaked a document that indicated Obama had attacked Nafta, the North American Free Trade Agreement, in public, only for one of his surrogates to reassure the Canadian consul in Chicago that this was just posturing to harvest embittered votes.
Of course, the common belief is that this stuff happens all the time. Voters in Ohio, who have been deluged with promises ever since their swing votes began to count in 1960, are cynical enough to know this.
But apparently to get caught doing it IS damaging.
It tarnished Mr Obama's saintly image and it was particularly galling since it was actually Bill Clinton who negotiated the free trade agreement now supposedly sucking labour out of Ohio.
The truth is that Ohio would have been shedding jobs like autumn leaves even without Nafta.
The steel that once made Youngstown and Cleveland proud and wealthy has long been produced in South Korea and China.
Rita, a staunch Clinton supporter who has worked at the General Electric lamp plant in Youngstown for 39 years, will be laid off in October because the factory is being dismantled and shipped to Hungary.
She has even been asked to train the Hungarian who will inherit her job, adding insult to injury.
"The only jobs available for us women here are pole-dancing and truck driving. If I slide down that pole and hit the floor, they're gonna have to lift me up with a crane," the effervescent 56-year-old told me.
Electoral accountancy
Rita was also hoping for closure in the primary race.
But the road ahead is closed to closure. Mrs Clinton has vowed to go all the way.
Ed Rendell, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, is looking forward to seven weeks of saturation media coverage of his state as the juggernaut ploughs on to 22 April.
Mrs Clinton points out that her husband only clinched the nomination in 1992 on 2 June, so what's the big hurry?
While she has inherited the compelling narrative of resurrection, Mr Obama is reduced to reassuring his supporters that she has barely eaten into his delegate lead.
This is not exactly the audacious rhetoric of hope and change. It is tepid electoral accountancy.
Tim Russert, the main anchor of US network NBC, reminded his audience in the middle of the night of a document leaked from or by Mr Obama's people - no-one is really sure - after Super Tuesday.
With uncanny accuracy, it presaged almost all the victories and defeats of recent weeks and foresaw Mr Obama entering a dreaded "brokered convention" with a slim lead in delegates, even after losing Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico - yes, Puerto Rico - in June.
The expectation on all sides now is that this marathon will go all the way to mid-August, that the Democratic Party's 796 super delegates will become more popular than chocolate liqueurs at a Betty Ford clinic, and that it is about to get really nasty.
Food fight
Meanwhile, John McCain has emerged from a chaotic and cantankerous field of fellow Republican candidates as the triumphant nominee.
On Wednesday, he was endorsed by President George W Bush in the Rose Garden.
And although the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is woefully unpopular, he has allowed Mr McCain to look presidential in the rental home of their dreams while his Democratic opponents are just limbering up for another food fight.
Mrs McCain is measuring curtains. Mrs Obama is sharpening elbows and Bill Clinton, who some say had become his wife's biggest liability, is being measured for muzzles.
Send us your comments in reaction to Matt Frei's diary
Matt Frei is the presenter of BBC World News America which airs every weekday at 0030 GMT on BBC News 24 and at 0000 GMT (1900 ET / 1600 PT) on BBC World and BBC America (for viewers outside the UK only).
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~17~RS~)