It was a little before 9 pm last night when CNN's Wolf Blitzer announced from the Situation Room or wherever it is he reports from that Barack Obama had secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination. About a half hour later, Hillary Clinton took the stage at Baruch College to...well, yes, praise Barack ("It has been an honor to contest these primaries with him just as it is an honor to call him my friend, and tonight I would like all of us to take a moment to recognize him and his supporters," she said to polite applause), but also remind everyone that she would not be putting herself out of her own misery by conceding tonight ("This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight," she stressed, before adding that she'll talk with her fellow Democrats to discuss the "best interests of our party.").

Then again, her fellow Democrats were more than willing to concede for her:

New York Representative Anthony Weiner, looking lonely without "girlfriend" and foxy Clinton aide Huma Abedin (why is she dating him again?) acknowledged to us that it was a "bittersweet" day, but that "Obama on his worst day is still better than McCain on his best day." Added Weiner: "If Hillary decides that she wants to be his VP, Obama would be insane not to take her." Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, a national Clinton campaign co-chair, told a group of reporters that a Clinton-Obama ticket would constitute a "Dream Team."

Other Hillary-ites seemed more concerned with drowning their sorrows at what is definitely a rarity at events such as this: a decently-stocked bar. ($4 got you a Coors Light; for $5 you had your choice of Heineken, Corona, Amstel Light, or a plastic cup full of Merlot, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, or Cabernet Sauvignon. Said the bartender: "The Cab has been our best-seller.") Young campaign staffers who weren't wearing headsets and carrying around clipboards were invariably clutching a bottle of beer with a napkin, trying hard keep their heads up. "Of course we're massively disappointed," said one aide, who had been on board the campaign for 16 months and who put in 18-hour days in Iowa. "I guess Obama just has that cult of personality."

John Mellencamp's political rally staple,"This Is Our Country," blared away on the loudspeakers as Tina Brown, the former Vanity Fair editor and author of the eagerly-awaited The Clinton Chronicles (in stores 2010!), scurried by. She seemed too busy to chat. Another staffer, a cute blond in her mid-20s, had taken a seat in the press filing center next to a table full of empty Domino's pizza boxes. (The Clintons had shelled out for more than 150 of them.) She was changing out of her heels and into some more comfortable flats in preparation for a Clinton-funded afterparty in the penthouse of the exclusive Gramercy Park Hotel just a few blocks away. It was an odd choice of venue, given that cocktails at the Hotel cost upwards of $20, but we guess a single night's bar tab can't further damage the budget of a campaign that is already $20 million in the red. "It's a sad night, for sure," she sighed. "We put in a lot of hard work on this campaign, so it's tough to see it end like this." She paused to take a sip of her Chardonnay. "I guess it's time to look for a new job."