(The graphic above is by DonkeyHotey.)The people of New Hampshire have spoken, and Bernie Sanders is the big winner in that state. I had hoped that Hillary Clinton could close the gap in that state, but it doesn't look like that happened. As I write this, it looks like Sanders will win with a 20 to 21 point margin.
I congratulate Sanders on his victory. His supporters have every right to celebrate. But I'm not yet ready to accept the cable media's pronouncement that this is somehow a game changer. Sanders has been expected to win New Hampshire for months now, and even a large margin there doesn't provide him with an easy path to the nomination.
The campaign now goes to the Nevada caucuses (where it could be another tight race), but after that it goes to South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states -- and that's territory much friendlier to Clinton.
On the Republican side, Donald Trump finished in first place, but far from a majority. He got about a third of the GOP vote. The surprises of the night came from Kasich, who grabbed second place, and from Rubio, who dropped down into fifth place. Cruz was third and Bush was fourth. It looks like those five will all get delegates from New Hampshire. The big losers were Christie and Fiorina, who did not make the 10% mark that would give them delegates.
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DEMOCRATIC DELEGATE COUNT
IOWA
Clinton..........29
Sanders..........21
Uncommitted..........2
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Clinton..........15
Sanders..........13
Uncommitted..........4
TOTAL (WITH ALL COMMITTED DELEGATES)
Clinton..........394
Sanders..........42
Delegate numbers are from Bloomberg.com.
Number of delegates needed to win the nomination..........2,382
