If Iowa was a skirmish, then New Hampshire was a battle. Wait, not battle. Massacre. New Hampshire was a massacre. The short version goes like this. Trump, with 35.2% of the vote, stepped on Cruz to the tune of 26 points. Kasich leapt into second place with almost 16% of the vote, also edging out Cruz by four points. Jeb Bush, somehow, came away only half a point under Cruz with 11.1%. The media’s favorite broken record, Marco Rubio, finished fifth on the Republican side and is very enthusiastic that we will hear his name again outside a YouTube debate gaff roundup. Everyone else on the GOP side of the event walked to the finish line, breathing heavily and looking a bit outclassed.
On the Democratic side, Bernie was simply “en fuego.” The Bern walked away with a solid 60% of the vote. (Remember not to compare candidate numbers across parties. The Democratic field practically has two players, so they will naturally garner higher percentages.) Hillary finished in second with 38.3%. And it is rumored that several people mentioned O’Malley during the event but had to leave early before getting a chance to vote.
So what changed since Iowa? Well, in a rare turn of events, the debate seemed to make an impact on the numbers, especially in Rubio’s case. Strangely though, Christie, who revealed to the world that Rubio was a deer caught in the headlights, lost the small bit of traction he had. No one likes a bully. For Hillary, strangely, the change continues to be women. Younger female voters, with “younger” loosely applying to all women between 18 and 64, are feeling the Bern and leaving Hill Dog in the cold.
The race is definitely heating up. Candidates are dropping like Sopranos characters, and South Carolina is just around the corner. Placing bets on who will survive until Super Tuesday just got a lot more interesting.