Other more mainstream Republicans including former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Ohio Governor John Kasich and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, are expected to do better in New Hampshire than in Iowa and vie with Rubio to become the establishment favorite.
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Speaking at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire earlier in the day, the former secretary of state called Sanders attacks on her ideology a “low blow”, before listing a series of liberal accomplishments that she described as progressive, including her work on expanding access to children’s health insurance, advocating for women and gay people and pushing for gun control measures.
But Trump supporters like farmer Floyd Kibbe, 49, saw the setback as a minor blip: “I’m very unhappy about this result but he can go to New Hampshire and win”. Earlier this week, he said she’s perhaps progressive on “some days”.
“Some days, yes”, Sanders said in response to a question about Clinton being a progressive, “except when she announces that she’s a proud moderate and then I guess she’s not a progressive”.
Trump alleges Cruz won the caucuses by committing fraud.
Donald Trump’s defeat may have dominated global headlines after he was relegated to second place in the Iowa caucuses, but an equally fascinating story was developing on the Democratic side. He has repeatedly said that if he doesn’t feel like he’s being treated “fairly” by the party, he could bolt the GOP and launch an independent bid for the White House.
“Don’t you?” she asked.
Sanders, a socialist, scoffs at that as the height of hypocrisy.
The Sanders campaign had initially said that it would participate in Thursday’s debate only if Clinton agreed to three additional debates in March, April and May.
Clinton acknowledged that she yet to win over broad swaths of the party, particularly younger voters.
There is simply more enthusiasm fueling his campaign than Clinton’s, he said: “An objective assessment would say there is more excitement and energy in our campaign”.
“Of course we’re an underdog”. Clinton’s campaign accused Sanders’ team of playing games.
“You know who does not want to run against me? I think it’s fair to say we have come a pretty long way in the last nine months”.
Polls in New Hampshire suggest the primary will not be as close as the nail-biting Democratic caucuses in Iowa.
Late polls showed Trump, a blunt-spoken billionaire businessman who has never before sought public office, with a small lead on Cruz, a conservative USA senator from Texas, while Clinton had a slight edge on Sanders, a US senator from Vermont.
The Democratic primary may turn out to be the only contest in the 2016 race where Sanders faces the burden of high hopes compared to Clinton, the clear front-runner in national surveys.
Cruz told New Hampshire supporters he was like former Republican President Ronald Reagan, urging the state to help ensure his nomination by giving him a win in the February 9 primary.
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Iowans who supported Rubio at the caucuses said they responded to his relatively positive message and viewed him as the candidate most likely to beat Clinton should she be the Democratic nominee. You’ve got to have a record of getting results.
