Trump aiming for New Hampshire win, rivals aim to survive

Under assault from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over his level of experience as a first-term USA senator from Florida, Rubio retreated time and again to canned statements from his stump speech and looked uncomfortably rattled for the first time after seamless performances at seven prior debates.

On the Democratic side, New Hampshire favorite Bernie Sanders and Clinton – who narrowly won Iowa – are avoiding predictions about Tuesday and looking beyond to SC and Nevada, the next two states up in the nomination process.

Among the Republicans, Rubio was downplaying his rough outing in Saturday night’s debate, while touting his overall campaign momentum after his third-place finish in Iowa, hoping to use that momentum to boost his chances in Tuesday’s contest.

The New Jersey governor puts it this way during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday”: Do Republicans want someone who can “absolutely answer” Clinton’s “every parry” or “someone who will crumble in front” of the former secretary of state? Without a strong showing, each will face enormous pressure to drop out of the race from Republican Party leaders eager to rally around a single candidate more acceptable to the party establishment who can challenge Cruz and Trump, the top-two finishers in the Iowa caucuses.

“The fact is, he’s never accomplished anything of any note in the United States Senate”, Christie said of Rubio. Saturday’s debate featured a couple of tense exchanges, including one between businessman Donald Trump and the audience, who booed him quite loudly at one point.

Republican presidential hopefuls Govs.

“It’s what I believe”, Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week”. He accused the senator of being a candidate governed by talking points – then pounced when the senator played into his hands by repeating multiple times what appeared to be a planned response to criticisms about his qualifications.

For a long time some social scientists warned us not to take Trump too seriously.

In New Hampshire, Trump commands 35 percent of support among likely Republican voters, a 21-point lead over closest rival Rubio, according to the latest 7News/University of Massachusetts Lowell poll. “Go to Jeb today, ask him how the joy is going”, Christie said.

Donald Trump holds a wide lead in the survey, receiving 35 percent.

While claiming to have supported legislation prohibiting waterboarding by military interrogators, Cruz said that “the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe”, meaning the president could authorize such methods regardless of any Congressional prohibition.

Sanders said his lack of investment in foreign affairs was less important than the judgment he had shown by opposing the Iraq war more than a dozen years ago.

“The races here in my many years covering New Hampshire primaries are always fluid and there’s always some kind of surprise the polls did not pick up”, Spiliotes said. It was a tough night for him. “John Kasich is the only Republican that sounds reasonable”, she said.

“There will be a certain number of people who will be on the street dying, and as a Republican I don’t want that to happen”, he said.

“I didn’t know what was going on”. He said he now knew to invest more in turnout and would defend himself robustly from future attacks — though he’ll only spend money if it’s actually needed.

“On Tuesday, go out and vote”, he said, adding with a grin: “If you’re not going to vote for me, do not vote”. He drew another large crowd Sunday in Portsmouth, where he reprised his indictment of a “rigged economy” and “corrupt campaign finance system”.