US election 2016: On the campaign bus with Hillary Clinton

With the rise of social media, it's easy to feel immersed in the primary races for US President. But as Kim Ghattas found when reporting on Hillary Clinton, there's no substitute for travelling alongside the candidate.

The podium was ready in the opulent, carpeted ballroom at the Las Vegas Caesar Hotel and Casino. The Hillary Clinton campaign logo was affixed to the lectern.

The Democratic caucus was already under way across Nevada, but was the stage set for a victory or a concession speech?

The rally had been billed as a simple caucus day event. For days the Clinton team had been lowering expectations. Then barely an hour after the caucus closed, a tweet from Clinton herself: "To everyone who turned out in every corner of Nevada with determination and heart: This is your win. Thank you. -H"

Soon after, Clinton campaign staff arrived in the ballroom, hugging and embracing each other.

"Some may have doubted us but we never doubted each other," Hillary Clinton told her supporters. There had been doubt for weeks, from a razor-thin victory in Iowa on 1 February to a big loss in New Hampshire on 9 February.

But just like that, the mood in the Clinton campaign turned. So did the headlines.

Girls on the bus

Much has changed since Timothy Crouse wrote The Boys on the Bus, his now famous chronicle of the press corps' life on the 1972 campaign trail.

Women now dominate the press corps following Clinton. We carry laptops, not typewriters. There isn't always a press bus, and not everyone gets on. You can make your own way to events, and be notified of changes to the schedule by email.

Thanks to the 24/7 news machine and constant social media reports, anyone can follow closely and feel like they're in the bubble.

But there is nothing more dramatic than observing the facial expressions of campaign aides in person as they try to project confidence, and to watch the mood turn when things feel like they're slipping away or when victory is within reach. Or when insiders admit they were in the dark until the last minute.

Until Fox News called it [for Hillary Clinton], we had no idea what to expect," campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri told me in Las Vegas. "HUGE" sigh of relief, another aide wrote to me in an email

Six months ago, Clinton was the prohibitive favourite. She led in national polls, she led in Iowa. And then Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders turned out to be a tougher challenger than anyone expected