NASHUA, New Hampshire — Presidential contenders descended on New Hampshire with Hillary Clinton seeking to turn a narrow victory in the leadoff Iowa caucuses into a bit of momentum for her shaken Democratic campaign and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz trying to lock in his spot at the top of the Republican field.
The White House hopefuls quickly scattered on Tuesday over the northeastern state for a blitz of campaign rallies and television interviews. Some sought to capitalize on the results of the Iowa caucuses, while others looked to put the best face on poor showings as they settled in for next Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary — the second in a series of state-by-state nominating contests to decide who will be each party’s candidate for president in November.
Democrats spent much of the day wrestling over the Iowa results. Clinton defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders by less than three-tenths of 1 percent, the closest result in Iowa Democratic caucus history, the state party said. Sanders said his campaign was still reviewing the results and did not concede.
Indeed, the once-unthinkably-small margin the former first lady, senator and secretary of state held over the self-declared democratic socialist suggested the Democratic contest is headed toward a protracted fight between the party’s pragmatic and progressive wings.
Clinton celebrated her narrow win in Iowa and said she expected a tough fight in New Hampshire, noting she’ll be campaigning in the “backyard” of Sanders’ home state. Polls show Sanders leading by double digits in New Hampshire, but in 2008 Clinton came back from a devastating defeat in Iowa to beat then Illinois-Sen. Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary.
Rallying supporters in Nashua, she urged voters to get practical and ask themselves when they hear candidates’ promises which candidate is “most likely going to be able to deliver” on them.
Sanders’ campaign declared victory even in defeat, saying the results were a “giant step” toward proving he is a viable candidate.
On the Republican side, businessman Donald Trump is looking to rebound after a second-place finish to Cruz in Iowa that marked a humbling blow to the boastful real estate mogul. Still, he has been leading the polls in New Hampshire.
the Texas senator proved in Iowa to be a favorite of evangelicals, even if he is maligned by many party leaders, and adept at mounting a powerful grass-roots operation. Coming in a close third, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was catapulted to the top of the heap of establishment candidates vying to be the party’s preferred alternative to Trump or Cruz.
New Hampshire has historically favored more moderate candidates than Iowa, and more than 40 percent of the state’s voters are not registered in any political party, giving them the power to choose which party’s’ primary to vote in. Polls show well over half of Republican voters have yet to make up their minds.
That may be good news for Cruz, who is hoping to avoid the conservatives’ Iowa curse. Unlike past candidates who found love in Iowa but fizzled fast, Cruz argued on Tuesday that his campaign has staying power, resources and broad appeal. Cruz told CNN that his campaign reflects “the power of the conservative grass roots.”
As Cruz’s campaign kept one eye on New Hampshire, the other was on South Carolina, where his fiery conservatism is expected to resonate better than in New Hampshire. Cruz held an evening rally in Greenville, South Carolina, before returning to New Hampshire.
Rubio also was looking ahead to South Carolina, which holds the first primary in the South later this month. His campaign announced the endorsement of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only African-American Republican in the Senate.
And then there is Trump, who may be the candidate most in need of a comeback after Iowa. Despite stealing the spotlight and driving the debate for months, he appears to have been out-organized by Cruz in Iowa.
Trump lashed out at the media on Tuesday for framing his second-place finish in Iowa as a loss. “The press didn’t treat me right,” he told a crowd in Milford, New Hampshire. “Instead of saying, ‘Unbelievable job!’ they said, ‘Well, yeah, he did all right.’“
Rubio’s advisers cast the Republican race as a three-man contest — an attempt to box out the other contenders vying for support among mainstream Republicans.
That won’t be easy. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday stormed into New Hampshire with packed campaign schedules. All three are hoping the state will breathe life into their flagging campaigns. — AP
