Almost twice as many Republican primary voters picked a conservative than voted for Trump, but they were split so evenly that no one candidate came close to him.
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Christie had over 100 endorsements from New Hampshire state legislators and the Union Leader, a newspaper for Republicans in state politics. Marco Rubio appeared on his way to leading it before a damaging – if overblown – debate misstep dropped him to a fifth-place thud in New Hampshire. The Associated Press has reported this, citing sources that were unnamed.
Mr Sanders and Mr Trump – two political insurgents from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum – have torn down the consensus of their respective party establishments. New Hampshire, which in the past has been generally supportive of the Clintons, dealt Hillary Clinton a major blow, winning 89,000 voters to Sanders’ 139,000. The Clinton campaign also criticized him for missing a Senate vote this week on North Korea sanctions, suggesting it underscored his lack of interest in foreign policy.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders were the clear winners in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, giving political outsiders a valuable edge over the establishment. Bush’s campaign released a radio ad Wednesday in SC featuring his brother, former President George W. Bush. That’s a missed opportunity for Rubio to consolidate the establishment behind him going into SC.
The US senator from Texas, who won the Iowa caucuses last week and placed third Tuesday night in New Hampshire, wasted no time slinging mud against Trump as a fake conservative, as Cruz fights to be the evangelical and right-wing standardbearer for the 2016 Republican nomination. A sample of Klein’s piece: “Trump is the most risky candidate for president in memory”.
“We love God, we’re gun owners, military veterans and we’re fed up with what’s happening in Washington”, Cruz said.
He expected the GOP field to whittle down this week.
Campaign spokeswoman Samantha Smith yesterday said Christie shared his decision with staff at his campaign headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, yesterday afternoon, and was calling donors and other supporters. Donald Trump had at least 10, John Kasich three, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush two each. Immediately after claiming his Granite State win, Sanders flew to NY to meet with the Reverend Al Sharpton in Harlem.
Over half a million voters cast ballots on Tuesday, Feb. 9 in the New Hampshire primary, a large turnout across the small Northeastern state.
Below, Eyewitness News Anchor Steve Nielsen discusses what it was like covering the presidential primaries in New Hampshire.
Clinton’s campaign said it’s focused on the 28 states that award 56 percent of the Democratic delegates in March. His campaigns suggestion that the race could veer a contested convention seemed to signal to mainstream Republicans that the party would be ill-served by allowing the Trump phenomenon to last much longer.
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There hasn’t been a contested national convention since 1976, yet Republican National Committee officials have already had preliminary discussions about the possibility of no candidate securing a majority of delegates in the state-by-state primary contests.
