Rubio Needs Strong New Hampshire Showing To Rebut Debate Critics

Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has a large grassroots following.

He scored big by carrying a range of demographic and ideological groups with more than 30% of the vote, according to exit polls.

Mr Rubio – after he was mauled in a TV debate on Saturday for regurgitating scripted lines – is hoping to build on his strong third-place finish in Iowa.

Rubio’s debate showing, in which he helped further the perception that he is an overly scripted, even robotic, candidate, has been cited by other contenders as proof he is not ready to lead.

But the two governors, Christie and Kasich, have hung virtually their entire White House hopes on finishing strong in New Hampshire.

Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) in New Hampshire.

“I’d guess Trump, Kasich, Jeb, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, Fiorina, Christie – in that order”, Castellanos opined.

The stage was set for the vote on Tuesday, with NY billionaire Trump enjoying a big lead in opinion polls of the state’s Republican voters and a host of rivals jockeying to emerge as his chief challenger for the Republican presidential nomination in the November 8 election.

He tells supporters: “I did not do well on Saturday night”.

But the loudest boos came after Bush said Trump’s name. That’s not much. New Hampshire – less conservative and less evangelical than Iowa – is not considered favorable ground for Cruz.

Trump was not the only candidate to shake up the establishment Tuesday night.

“I have no idea what they’re talking about or who they are talking to”, Clinton, responding to the report, said on MSNBC.

One of the first Florida Republicans to celebrate the Trump victory was Joe Gruters, the Sarasota County Republican Party chairman, and chairman of Trump’s Florida campaign.

On Republican side of the race, with real estate mogul Trump leading with 31 per cent support, the main interest centred on who among the remaining seven candidates would finish second behind him. A trio of governors – Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie – have spent most of their time in the state in recent weeks and needed to show voters, as well as crucial financial donors, that they’re viable candidates.

For Trump, New Hampshire is his state to lose.

Here are my projections for three states: Trump takes New Hampshire, Cruz barely takes SC and Rubio takes Nevada.