Both contests are critically important for the momentum they lend – or deny – to candidates hoping to remain competitive later.
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Hillary Clinton has visited a campaign office in south Des Moines to rally her troops ahead of Monday night’s Iowa caucuses.
Trump, who skipped last week’s debate because of a dispute with Fox News, placed second in the caucuses, behind victor Texas Sen. In fact, a three-way race would look pretty good for Marco Rubio at the moment, as long as it was truly a three-way race, with Bush, Kasich, Carson, and Christie hanging it up. He tells the crowd in New Hampshire that his campaign “astounded the world” and is going to “astound the world again” in New Hampshire.
Clinton has 362 endorsements to just eight for Bernie Sanders.
On a winter night, Iowans are meeting in party caucuses and express their preferences for the Democratic and Republican candidates in the race for the 2016 nominations.
“She just is not very trustworthy”, said Katie Trott, 24, of Manchester, while eating lunch at the Red Arrow Diner. “I didn’t live in Washington, so nobody knows me”, he said. Christie and Kasich have made more than double the number of campaign stops than Rubio.
“I didn’t have a lot of voters mention that to me, but I certainly think that could have been a factor”, he said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends”. But there are stark differences on the Republican side, Smith said.
The state party chairman calls the results “the closest in Iowa Democratic caucus history”. A Sunday Boston Herald-Franklin Pierce University poll showed Trump leading the Republican field in New Hampshire with 39%, followed by Cruz (13%), followed by Rubio and Bush, 10%; Kasich, 8%; and Christie, 5%.
At the caucuses, participants first elect a caucus chair, someone to govern the proceedings, before listening to short speeches on behalf of the candidates, and only then do they begin the process of selecting the next president. They’re the party leaders who can support the candidate of their choice. “That’s a big thing”.
Two Trump backers said Rubio’s Iowa surge would likely create new difficulties for the real estate mogul in New Hampshire, where he has led by a wide margin in the latest polling.
Over the coming days, there will be a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort by Rubio’s camp to convince major donors supporting his rivals – Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush – to rally behind Rubio for the battle against Cruz-Trump.
“We have some wind at our backs right now and that’s great”, Rubio adviser Todd Harris told NBC News over the weekend, “but at the same time we’re competing with the greatest showman on earth on the one hand and arguably the greatest ground game in Iowa political history on the other”. “If it doesn’t work, folks, it was nice seeing you”.
The New Jersey governor’s criticism of Rubio as a candidate – from his campaigning skills to his grasp of the issues – went personal, telling Rubio to “man up”, in an attack that underscored what the Florida senator is facing after blowing past expectations in Iowa on Monday night.
“I’m as conservative as anyone running for president and I believe I can grow the conservative movement”, Rubio said.
While most people living in Iowa were born there, New Hampshire has a high population churn.
Mr Rubio won 23 per cent of the caucus vote. “He has all his marbles on New Hampshire”. CNN cut away to carry her speech while Fox News gave Cruz a full 32 minutes (“we wanted to let that breathe”, Brett Baier said) before ditching him to cut over to their preferred Democrat, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders. The problem for Sanders? You think they’re anxious?
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It could help Sanders that New Hampshire colleges will be in session on primary day, making it easier for students to get to the polls.
