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\u201cThe vibe now is very much that the general election starts today,\u201d one political reporter told me Wednesday morning. Of course that\u2019s not what Nikki Haley,<\/strong> fresh off losing<\/a> to Donald Trump<\/strong> in the New Hampshire primary, was telling supporters the night before. \u201cThis race is far from over,\u201d she said, vowing to fight on to South Carolina, her home state and the site of a February 24 contest. \u201cIt\u2019s over for Haley, although we\u2019ll keep covering her,\u201d said the reporter. \u201cIt feels like we\u2019re treating it as a much more competitive election than it is because we\u2019re staffed to cover a competitive primary.\u201d<\/p>\n News organizations are accustomed to covering at least one heated primary race every four years, if not two when there isn\u2019t an incumbent running for reelection. But this time around, Iowa was all but over<\/a> before it started, and New Hampshire was called as soon as the polls closed. I caught up this week with several political journalists and news executives as they consider the next phase of an unorthodox election season in which much of the public appears to be tuning<\/a> out politics, Super Tuesday in March is unlikely to be a factor, and the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees may never hit the debate stage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have time to play this out before committing the next set of resources, be it South Carolina or Super Tuesday,\u201d one longtime network executive told me. \u201cBut I do think that everybody is starting to look toward the general, and you throw in the financial pressures that every corporate-owned media outlet has, and there\u2019s almost going to be relief from the bean counters that Trump is doing so well\u2014to be totally cynical about this.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Haley\u2019s upbeat tone on Tuesday night, she could always quickly go the way of Ron DeSantis.<\/strong> \u201cWe got our ticket punched out of Iowa,\u201d DeSantis declared after finishing a distant second in the caucuses, only to drop out six days later and endorse Trump. \u201cLogic tells you it\u2019s probably over, but as a reporter, you don\u2019t predetermine the outcome,\u201d a second political reporter told me on their way home from the Granite State. \u201cShe came within 10 points. She\u2019s going to her home state. It\u2019s a good story,\u201d they said, acknowledging that while it \u201cstill seems like a fait accompli that it\u2019s gonna be Trump,\u201d the \u201cstory will be: Can [Haley] consolidate all the anti-Trump elements? If she can, is it enough to make it actually competitive? I don\u2019t think we can determinatively say one way or another yet.\u201d<\/p>\n A third political reporter said they \u201chonestly thought [Trump] would win by more\u201d in New Hampshire, and that while it seems like he\u2019ll be the nominee, reporters know better than to make the same mistakes they did in 2016. \u201cYou can be realistic and see what\u2019s happening in front of you while also being open to the assurances that there will be two or three major surprises along the way,\u201d they said. There\u2019s also \u201ccapacity for surprises that aren\u2019t even connected to voting,\u201d a second longtime network executive noted, \u201cespecially when you have two old candidates\u201d as well as multiple major legal cases<\/a> against the former president.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have devoted a lot of resources to the legal front and we\u2019re going to continue to do so,\u201d the first network executive said. \u201cThe trials may replace the primaries: We may not have Super Tuesday, but we do have Jack Smith.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n