New Hampshire voters say no to establishment candidates

“We very easily could be looking at May – or the convention”, [campaign manager Terry] Sullivan said aboard Rubio’s charter jet from New Hampshire to SC on Wednesday.

Cruz highlighted the “significant glaring differences” between the two on health care, stressing that Trump was keen on “adopting Bernie Sanders-style socialized medicine”, a reference to the independent senator challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Trump, appealing to voters seeking a political outsider, could benefit from the persistent lack of clarity among the more mainstream Republicans struggling to challenge him. “We’ll win some delegates”, he said. “Maybe greater than ever before”.

Meanwhile, John Kasich’s stronger than expected second place finish, along with Marco Rubio’s anemic placing in fifth, throws the Republican establishment into disarray once more. I wonder how many Republicans in New Hampshire voted for Bernie Sanders yesterday.

US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks to the crowd during a rally February 8, 2016 in Manchester, NH.

“People who have already endorsed [Rubio] are probably concerned to see how he can come out of South Carolina”, West Virginia Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who has not yet named her endorsement, told The Hill.

Rubio is stepping up his attacks after being widely mocked for repeating the same talking point multiple times – even as Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey (R) ripped him for doing so. Cruz, seen as less likely to feature strongly in more moderate New Hampshire, still captured third with 12%. On February 11th, Milwaukee will be in the spotlight once again, as the Democratic presidential candidates debate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

It’s going to get hard for high- profile Democrats who support Clinton and high-profile Republicans who oppose Trump. Who doesn’t believe it’s all about him.

Mr. Trump, a billionaire and Mr. Sanders, the poorest candidate in the fray, said strikingly similar things in their victory speeches about the American campaign finance system that funnels huge sums of money from corporates into its politics, in exchange for policy favours.

Hillary Clinton, for her part, remained largely quiet Wednesday following a stinging defeat in which she pulled just 38% of the Democratic vote, with nearly all of the vote counted. But she cast herself as more prepared to make good on her pledges.

The fact she could be helping to elect a woman president was also an important factor, she said. “But they’re also hungry, they’re hungry for solutions”, she said after congratulating Sanders on his win.

New Hampshire has 24 pledged delegates that are assigned based on the proportion of the popular vote received. That’s a lot worse than he did in Iowa, where he won 23 percent of the vote. Ted Cruz, though despised by insiders, can steal his thunder among voters in the mood for anger. But it won’t be much of a lead. Trump will win at least nine.