Democrats’ Campaigns Reposition To Granite State
Adam Sullivan
As the results for the Iowa caucuses come in, many campaigns are moving on to get ready for New Hampshire primary next Tuesday.
During the most recent presidential election cycles, Iowans and Granite Staters have gone separate ways. In 2008, Barack Obama won Iowa and placed 2nd to Hillary Clinton. In 2016, Clinton narrowly won the Hawkeye State then got beat badly by Bernie Sanders. But this year is a lot different, because there are so many candidates in the race.
Plymouth State University political science professor John Lappie says Monday’s caucuses will test the candidate’s longterm viability and says a top three finish need to be the goal. “Especially, the least established ones — the Buttigiegs and Klobuchars of the world. They want to finish at least 2nd or 3rd to show some viability going forward. Sanders, Biden — to a lesser extent Warren — they have enough of a brand name that they can survive a bad finish in Iowa. It’s obviously not ideal, but they can actually survive,” Lappie said.
Since 2000, Iowans have accurately predicted the democratic nominee — including Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, Barack Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Many of the top tier candidates and campaign officials will be taking late flights out of Iowa Monday night, or first thing Tuesday, to New Hampshire. A debate is scheduled in New Hampshire Friday in Manchester.
