“We’re looking on our devices, we’re looking at Twitter, and the first thing that comes up across is this CNN piece that says, ‘Mandate Struck Down,’ and we’re trying to absorb this,” he recalled Friday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

His consternation was interrupted by a cheer from outside the room, where his campaign staff was in the bullpen, watching a television projected onto the wall.

“All of a sudden there was a cheer outside and we’re like, ‘What the heck is this?’” Axelrod said.