Jeb Bush and Chris Christie Hanging on in New Hampshire

On the eve of New Hampshire’s presidential primaries, a new CNN Poll of Polls finds both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are holding on to substantial leads in their respective races, but each faces an opponent whose support is on the rise. In recent days Bill Clinton has accused some Sanders’ supporters of waging “sexist” attacks, and feminist Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have criticized women who aren’t supporting Clinton. The fifth candidate often included in the group, Chris Christie, has generally seen his support dwindle, and now stands well behind, dropping two points in this week’s Poll of Polls to an average of 5 percent. Rubio with 17%. Three-quarters of the polling was completed before Saturday’s debate, so it was unclear whether he had been hurt by his rocky performance.

Donald Trump appears on stage at the CNN Republican Presidential Debate in Simi Valley, California on September 16, 2015. Three other candidates Senator Ted Cruz from Texas (13%), Ohio Governor John Kasich (11%) and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (10%) were running neck-to-neck for the third position.

Republican presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a town hall-style campaign event at Hampton Academy, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, in Hampton, N.H.

Trump responded Monday by calling Bush sad.

The old chatter surrounding his inexperience, briefly muted by his strong third-place finish in Iowa, started once again after a disastrous outing during Saturday night’s debate in New Hampshire, in which he somehow repeated the same talking point four times. But I am curious how much of the Kasich/Bush chatter is just reporters going on what they saw at the last rally or just looking for a new story.

If he doesn’t win by a reasonably wide margin, he could come out of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary in a weakened position. “When you’re president of the United States… the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn’t solve one problem”, Christie said.

Let me tell you, sir. “If I came in second I wouldn’t be happy, okay?”

Encouraged by Marco Rubio’s stumbles, the Republicans’ second-tier candidates are seeing fresh hope for survival as they sprint to the finish line in New Hampshire.

“Bush fired back on Twitter later Monday morning, writing: “@realDonaldTrump, you aren’t just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner.

“Frankly, he’s a stiff”, Trump said. He’s not a guy that can be president. “He doesn’t have what it takes”. “He’s a desperate person”. You know why? Because I’m confident. In fact, he doesn’t even use the last name Bush. “He’s a nervous wreck”.

Trump is taking questions in an Elks Lodge in Salem, New Hampshire in front of a crowd of about 230 people.

“The online campaign is, ‘Anybody who doesn’t agree with me is a tool of the establishment, ‘” Clinton argued.

Sanders’ campaign didn’t immediately return a request seeking comment.

The popular former president has hammered Sanders for his supporters’ “sexist” attacks on his wife and for peddling an unaffordable single-payer health care plan.

Clinton aides worry that a big Sanders victory in the state could help him make headway among women and minority voters, important parts of the coalition that twice elected Barack Obama as president.

“People think it’s a bad thing”. And then, out of the blue, Clinton won New Hampshire.

The Cruz campaign played off the CNN report, clearly thinking CNN was reporting Carson was quitting his campaign.

The ad claims “Jeb is the conservative you can trust”. “That is downright wrong”, said Bush.