In the final minutes before election results come in, it’s worth reiterating the bizarre nature of the general election campaign and the way it is covered in the press. The final outcome is highly predictable from the political fundamentals and yet the media invests vast effort in making up stories about campaign events and their effect on the polls. The coverage that doesn’t focus on the horse race tends to try to answer unanswerable questions about politicians’ character, intentions, and motives. Discussing and examining the policy platforms of the candidates comes later or not at all. I keep waiting for reporters to realize the deep epistemological problems with this approach but professional norms and economic incentives have seemingly locked the status quo in place.