Well, another New Hampshire primary is now in the books. Before we put the Granite State in the rear-view mirror (like Joe Biden did at noon on Primary Day!) here’s a quick recap on the day after:
Winners
1) New Hampshire
Look, it’s hard not to look good when you follow Iowa in 2020, but New Hampshire once again did itself proud. The voters took this seriously (as they always do) and they did their jobs. You’d think farm country like Iowa would have separated the wheat from the chaff, but it was New Hampshire that did.
2) Klobuchar
KLOMENTUM is real, and that’s a phrase I never thought I’d say. For all her faults (eating salad with a comb!) Amy is a no-nonsense ball-buster, and when she brought IT on the Saint Anselm’s debate stage, NH responded. She absolutely cost Buttigieg the state, and now she has become a real problem for him (they are fishing in the same pond for voters). And since she has told you she doesn’t think he’s qualified or ready, I’m betting she loves where she is right now.
3) Trump
There was no reason for Trump to be in NH, and there was no reason for Trump surrogates to be in NH all week. But, as a listener said to me up there, this was Trump supporters’ first chance to show support for a guy who they feel was wrongly impeached, and they did so in droves. Primary Day was supposed to be about the Dems, but Trump and his campaign absolutely ‘Bigfoot’ed them, and the enthusiasm with which they did it should very much concern the Dems.
Losers
1) Warren
My God, she couldn’t even get double figures. It was not that long ago when Sen. Warren was leading in NH, and now she’s leaving the state without a single delegate. It’s hard to be that bad, but Warren made it look easy.
2) Biden
When you start the critical last debate by saying, “we took a gut punch in Iowa and are probably gonna take another one here”, that’s a problem. But he did even worse than we thought. Consider this, if you combined Biden’s votes with Warren’s votes, they would still finish in fourth. In the future Joe, if you are going to bail on a state (as you did at noon on Election Day) maybe do so BEFORE you call someone who shows up at your rally a “lying dog-faced pony soldier.” Yeesh.
3) The Democratic Party
The buzz in New Hampshire on Election Day was palpable, FOR TRUMP! It was not palpable for the Dems. There were virtually no celebrity surrogates anywhere (Save a brief appearance by Kevin Costner). Why did Warren not have the Julian Castro working radio row for her? Is BETO even alive? Why wasn’t Kamala up there trying to counter Trump? The DNC showed in Iowa that they do not have there bleep together, and they renewed that message in NH. Not good.
In the end, if this is the last time New Hampshire is the first in the nation, the Granite State did itself proud. If it isn’t the last time, then good for the parties for realizing the value of a state that does its job every four years.
-VB