Standing in a garish hotel lobby, casino music pounding, a Republican who has worked hard to help Donald Trump couldn’t quite believe how the final presidential debate had ended just a couple of hours earlier.

“He had a home run going — a home run — and then he pissed it away in ten seconds,” the person said. “Could he just try to win? Just f—-king try to win?”…

Unlike in the media room at the debate site, Trump’s will-you-accept-the-results-of-the-election answer was not a bombshell in the focus group. When Trump began to answer, the line representing his leaners actually went up a bit. The line for undecided voters went down a bit, but quickly moved above the neutral line into positive territory. Even the line representing Hillary leaners wasn’t very low, just below the neutral line. No lines plunged. It did not seem as if the moment had really registered.

A short time later, all the lines rose — Clinton, Trump, and undecided — in a positive response to Clinton’s declaration that presidential candidates must accept the outcome of a free and fair election.