Trump, Sanders seek lift in New Hampshire

Unlike in Iowa, Donald Trump is the runaway poll leader going into tonight’s contest.

“This isn’t weather”, said Ben Bath, who was ducking the cold in a Concord coffee shop.

Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, and Donald Trump also scored his first victory in a triumph of two candidates who have seized on Americans’ anger at the Washington political establishment. Rubio was second at 17 percent, followed by Cruz at 14 percent and Kasich at 10 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

He said: “If you’re sick, if you can’t move; you’re close to death; your doctor tells you it’s not working; your wife is disgusted with you, she said, ‘I’m leaving'”. “And so these are people that have invested all of their resources in one place”.

Voters in both the Democratic and Republican contests were more apt to say the candidates’ positions on the issues were central to their vote than to say their choice rested on personal or leadership qualities. All the way at the bottom, barely registering a blip was former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore with less than a percent of the vote.

Kasich, who like Christie and Bush has argued that gubernatorial experience is better preparation for the presidency, said he is “calm” as New Hampshire officials prepare to count ballots. Sanders has an advantage over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire after his narrow second-place finish in Iowa last week. Tycoon Mr Trump did the rounds of a couple of television studios while Mr Rubio, Mr Christie and Mr Bush all stopped at Manchester’s Webster School to early voters chat with voters as they arrived. “It is important that every vote we have converted, we get out”.

On the Democratic side, Sanders held a strong poll lead over Clinton.

Rubio appeared to be breaking away after a stronger-than-expected third-place showing in Iowa, but he stumbled in Saturday’s Republican debate under intense pressure from Christie.

NPR’s National Political Correspondent and former WDET staffer, Don Gonyea, joins Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today, where he’s on the ground in New Hampshire, to offer his insights on the New Hampshire primary and his life on the campaign trail.

Donald Trump has repeated a fan’s claim that his biggest rival is a “pussy” to jubilant cheers at a campaign rally.

So jumbled is the New Hampshire outcome that campaigns were still shifting their strategies right before Tuesday.

The former secretary of state went to a Dunkin’ Donuts with her daughter, Chelsea, and several polling locations and bumped into Frank Fiorina, the husband of Republican candidate Carly Fiorina, who has been a scorching critic of Clinton during the campaign. In an interview with NBC on Monday, Rubio seemed to be giving up on his hope of becoming the clear establishment alternative to Trump and Cruz after New Hampshire, saying the race was going to go for a while longer. Trump continued to attack Bush (“He’s a sad person who has gone absolutely insane”, Trump told CNN) because – well, because he’s always been Trump’s favorite target.

Trump is in the lead of the Republican race – and he’ll need to finish that way if he doesn’t want to be the loser that he’s branding opponents. On Tuesday, 7 in 10 voters in the Republican primary said they were conservative. “Shout it out”, said Trump.