While Iowa keeps counting, candidates hit the trail in New Hampshire to spin incomplete results
NASHUA, N.H. – Facing pressure to deliver a strong performance in New Hampshire next week after a likely third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Elizabeth Warren would not say Wednesday whether she needs an outright win in her neighboring state.
“To me, this isn’t about the numbers as much as it is about the people, the enthusiasm,” the Massachusetts U.S. senator told reporters following a campaign rally here. “I’m out here talking to people who are ready get in this fight and ready to make real change. That’s why I’m here.”
Warren was among nine Democratic candidates for president were on the ground in New Hampshire, even as they continued to wait for final results from Iowa, where Democrats are still working to verify results more than 48 hours after the caucuses.
Former mayor Pete Buttigieg, who holds a slim lead in Iowa's state delegate equivalents, took the time to knock the idea of tribalism within Democratic ranks. Sen. Bernie Sanders touted his lead in Iowa's popular vote and contrasted himself with President Donald Trump on the day he voted for Trump's removal from office. And after a likely fourth-place finish, former Vice President Joe Biden told a New Hampshire crowd "we took a gut punch in Iowa.'
The New Hampshire electorate in some way seems to be responding to what's happening in Iowa. A Suffolk University tracking poll of the state's presidential primary released late Wednesday saw Sanders leading, as he has for weeks. He had 25%. Buttigieg followed with 19%, seeing a jump of 8 points since Monday, while Biden was at 12%, down 6 points, and Warren was at 11%, down 2.
All four candidates have at times led polls in New Hampshire. Warren started to slide in both national and state polls beginning in the fall, coinciding with a rocky rollout of her Medicare for All plan. At the same time Buttigieg saw his numbers skyrocket in New Hampshire. But since December, Sanders, the primary’s other candidate in the progressive lane, had led consistently and he opened a wide margin in January.
Warren framed her campaign's finish as being “in the top three in Iowa,” pointed to the long road ahead and touted her campaign’s organization.
“Now we’ve landed in New Hampshire and we’re out here fighting for every vote in New Hampshire, and after this, we’ve got 55 more states and territories,” she said. “We already have on-the-field operations in 31 states and 1,000 people. This is an operation that is built for the long haul and I’m loving every minute of it.”
Sanders confident in his Iowa standing
Sanders won the 2016 New Hampshire Democratic primary by a large margin, has led polls here for weeks, and is expected to perform well in next week's primary. He was greeted by a cheering crowd of 1,000 people Tuesday for his first Granite State event after leaving Iowa.
“New Hampshire goes first in terms of primaries. You go first. The whole country will be watching," he told the crowd in Milford. "And a week from tonight, New Hampshire has the opportunity to tell not only this nation, but the entire world, that we together will stand for justice, for compassion and for children.”
Sanders held one event Wednesday before heading back to D.C. to vote in Trump's impeachment trial.
He called it a "solemn day for the country."
"The president's job is to bring people together," he told the crowd in Derry, according to the Eagle-Tribune. "Today, we have a president trying to divide us for clearly political gain. What we will do in the White House is exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing. We will end the divisiveness in this country and bring people together with an agenda that works for working people."
He was bullish on his chances in Iowa, where he was winning the popular vote in the Iowa caucuses final realignment.
“In Iowa they have a complicated system and there's a realignment vote-we're winning that one as well, Sanders said, according to CNN. "We're going to have an equal number of delegates from Iowa going to the national convention.”
Buttigieg makes play for support from the middle
Earlier in the day, Buttigieg, who emerged as either the first or second place finisher in Iowa, seemed to frame his politics as an alternative to the revolution-minded Sanders and the establishment Biden.
“We do not have to be tribal in our politics of the future," he said, addressing a youth environment town hall in Concord. "And in fact, in order to solve our big problems, we’re going to have to recognize that there are options somewhere in between a revolution and the status quo."
He added: "In order to govern, as well as to lead, we've got to enlist the energies of people from my party, independents and some number of people who are accustomed to being in the other party."
Biden: 'This isn't the first time ... I've been knocked down'
During a campaign stop in Somersworth, New Hampshire, Biden made light of Iowa's vote counting problems Wednesday, but conceded the results have been a blow to his campaign.
"At this rate, New Hampshire will be the first in the country to get to vote," he quipped before adding, "I'm not going to sugarcoat it. We took a gut punch in Iowa. The whole process took a gut punch. But this isn't the first time in my life I've been knocked down."
Biden, who was in fourth place, had previously tried to put a more positive spin on his performances in the caucuses.
"We had a good night last night in Iowa," he said Tuesday. "We think we’re going to come out of there really doing well. But be careful what you say, because it's not done yet."
Biden also took aim at the likely top two finishers in Iowa, Buttigieg and Sanders, arguing both would be risky nominees to take on President Donald Trump.
“If Sen. Sanders is the nominee for the party, every Democrat in America up and down the ballot ... will have to carry the label Sen. Sanders has chose for himself,” Biden said, according to the Associated Press. “He calls himself a democratic socialist. Well, we’re already seeing what Donald Trump is going to do with that.”
Biden said he had “great respect” for Buttigieg but didn’t think the nominee should be someone whose highest office is mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a city of about 100,000.
“It’s a risk, to be just straight up with you,” he said.
Warren, speaking to a couple hundred voters inside a gym at Nashua Community College, did not stray from her standard stump speech, calling for “big structural change” to take on money and corruption in Washington.
“Our No. 1 job in November is to beat Donald Trump,” Warren said. “I am the best candidate to do that because I know how to fight and I know how to win. What does it take to win in November? The answer is, first, we’ve got to pull our party together. We cannot repeat 2016.”
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
Contributing: Paste BN reporter Will Cummings, and the Associated Press.