Just not in the way they had expected. Later in the day, Clare and I got the alert on our phones: O’Rourke was dropping out of the campaign. When we looked around, we saw his signature black-and-white signs being taken down. No more flags waving, no more dancing. The packing up had started. And at the event that night, a giant American flag was spread across his section in the arena — just a token now of a candidacy not to be.