WASHINGTON
(AP) — Bernie Sanders won the young, the liberal and the disaffected in
New Hampshire. Their votes were enough to deliver him a victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, while Pete Buttigieg earned a slight edge among more moderate and conservative voters, with Amy Klobuchar close behind.
The New Hampshire Democratic primary revealed a mountainous ideological divide among Democrats, as voters try to identify which candidate will be most effective in challenging President Donald Trump in November’s general election.
A
majority of voters who considered themselves “very liberal” supported
Sanders, according to AP VoteCast. The 78-year-old Vermont senator, who
has championed universal government health care
and high taxes on the wealthy, also won support from voters younger
than 45 and had a slight advantage among those without a college degree.
Roughly 3 in 10 of those who deemed the U.S. economic system “very
unfair” favor Sanders to oversee the world’s leading financial power.
But
about 6 in 10 New Hampshire Democrats identified as moderate or
conservative. Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend,
Indiana, held a slight advantage with this group of voters. Roughly
another quarter of moderate voters went with Minnesota Sen. Amy
Klobuchar, while about 1 in 10 went for former Vice President Joe Biden.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sanders are avowed liberals.
AP
VoteCast is a wide-ranging survey of more than 3,000 Democratic primary
voters in New Hampshire conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at
the University of Chicago.
The
scrum of conflicting ideologies could set up a bruising round of
election contests in the weeks ahead as Democratic voters choose whether
it is better to lean into an overtly liberal contender or embrace a
more moderate challenger. And once the nominee is picked, it is unclear
whether the Democrats can fully set aside their differences and bond
back together.
Only
15% of New Hampshire Democrats said they were “very confident” that the
process for picking a presidential nominee would be fair, a sign of
possible doubts lingering in voters’ minds at the state’s Tuesday
primary.
The
trouble tabulating results in last week’s Iowa caucuses, an issue that
has yet to be fully resolved, may have rattled the faith of some voters
amid uncertainty about who is the Democratic front-runner. The
skepticism was clearest among Sanders’ backers, with about 6 in 10
saying they had little or no confidence in the Democratic primary
process. Majorities of voters for every other top Democratic contender
described the primary process as fair.
The
results from AP VoteCast suggest that Sanders’ younger and generally
more liberal supporters distrust their fellow Democrats, a potential
reflection of the Vermont senator losing the 2016 nomination to Hillary
Clinton.
Matthew
Gage, a 40-year-old EMT attending a Sanders party in Manchester, New
Hampshire, said he was angered by the use of super delegates in the 2016
election and remains “suspicious” that the process is fair this time
around.
This year, he said, “I have more confidence only because there’s more eyes watching them and they know they can’t hide stuff.”
Yet
after months of campaigns and debates, New Hampshire voters are still
settling on the ideal moderate choice. Of the state Democrats who made a
decision in the days before the primary, about half went to Buttigieg
and Klobuchar.
The
only clear candidate on the outs in a state that is largely white and
older was Biden. He departed Tuesday for South Carolina, where there is a
significant population of African American voters who will test which
candidate appeals most to a diverse electorate that was largely absent
from the opening two contests.
Voters
see liabilities in many of the Democrats vying to run against Trump.
About 6 in 10 said a candidate with strongly liberal views would have
difficulty competing with the incumbent president, evidence that Sanders
and Warren may be struggling to make the electability argument outside
their base of supporters. But roughly 6 in 10 also said a gay nominee —
Buttigieg — would face greater hardship in the general election.
Still,
New Hampshire Democrats say they are willing to rally around their
party’s nominee. At least 6 in 10 said they would be satisfied with
Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders or Warren as their presidential candidate.
Fewer — half — said they would be pleased if Biden became the nominee.
Broader questions about fairness in U.S. society have been a central concern for the Democratic candidates.
An
overwhelming share of New Hampshire Democrats — nearly 8 in 10 — view
the economy as unfair. But there is little consensus on which candidate
would do the best job of stewarding the world’s largest economy.
Yet
among the roughly 2 in 10 who believe the economy is fair, there was an
opening for a Democrat whose name was not on the ballot in New
Hampshire. These voters gave a slight edge on leading the economy to
Mike Bloomberg, the former New York City Mayor with a personal fortune
in excess of $60 billion.
___
Associated Press writer Kathleen Ronayne in Manchester, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
___
AP VoteCast
is a survey of the American electorate conducted by NORC at the
University of Chicago for The Associated Press and Fox News. The survey
of 3,111 voters in New Hampshire was conducted for seven days,
concluding as polls closed. Interviews were conducted in English or
Spanish. The survey is based on interviews with a random sample of
registered voters drawn from the state voter file. The margin of
sampling error for voters is estimated to be plus or minus 3.0
percentage points.
New Hampshire business owner Corina Cisneros, who moved to the state from Venezuela, said on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday that “socialism is not the answer for America.” Cisneros,
the founder of Cisneros Realty Group, was part of a panel of business
leaders speaking on “Fox & Friends” the morning after democratic
socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., declared victory after narrowly winning the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. With the economy surging in the Granite State, which has an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent, the sixth-lowest in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, host Brian Kilmeade asked the panel of business leaders if voters necessarily want a progressive in the White House. “This
is going to be my first presidential election,” Cisneros told Kilmeade.
“I'm proud to be an American citizen, and just to be in New Hampshire,
have my own business.” When Kilmeade asked Cisneros if it bothers
her that the American dream for Sanders' supporters is socialism, she
said, “It bothers me a lot because I lived socialism. I left
socialism. Socialism is not the answer for America.” Sanders narrowly edged former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg
to claim victory Tuesday. It was the second straight win in New
Hampshire for the populist senator, following his 2016 crushing of
eventual nominee Hillary Clinton. When Kilmeade asked Cisneros if she senses that Sanders' message resonates with the state overall she said, “No.” “The economy is doing great in New Hampshire,” she explained. “We have low unemployment.” “As
a Realtor, there is demand for housing,” she continued. “We're off the
charts in terms of demand. So the overall sensation in New Hampshire is
that we're doing great.” Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
It is easy to forget how far Democrats have come from former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 commitment that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.” Even as late as 2008, then-Senator Hillary Clinton repeated the formula by affirming that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.” In recent conversations with voters, Pete Buttigieg has shown how much more radical the Democrats have become on the issues of abortion and infanticide. Kristin
Day, a pro-life Democratic voter, recently put Buttigieg on the spot at
a Fox News Townhall event in January, when she said: “So, do you want
the support of pro-life Democrats, pro-life Democratic voters? There
are about 21 million of us. And if so, would you support more moderate
platform language in the Democratic Party to ensure that the party of
diversity, of inclusion really does include everybody?” When
Buttigieg told her that he was pro-choice and then gave a waffling
answer, moderator Chris Wallace asked if Day was satisfied with the
answer she received. She was not:
“No, I was not,
because he did not answer the second part of my question. And the
second part was, the Democratic platform contains language that
basically says that we don't belong, we have no part in the party
because it says abortion should be legal up to nine months, the
government should pay for it, and there's nothing that says that people
have a diversity of views on this issue should be included in the
party.
“In 1996, and I guess several years after that, there was language in
the Democratic platform that said that we understand that people have
very differing views on this issue, but we are a big tent party that
includes everybody. And so, therefore, we welcome you, people like me,
into the party so we can work on issues that we agree on.
“So my question was, would you be open to language like that in the
Democratic platform, that really did say that our party is diverse and
inclusive and we want everybody?”
Buttigieg’s radical stance
on abortion (he said that life begins when a baby takes its first
breath, i.e., after being born) approaches the pro-infanticide position
of Democratic Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam – who is, ironically, a
pediatric neurologist supposedly dedicated to saving babies. Speaking to Washington, D.C. radio station WTOP about late-term abortions, Northam said: “When
we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the
consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physician —
more than one physician, by the way — and it’s done in cases where there
may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s non-viable. “If
a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The
infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The
infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family
desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and
the mother.” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also fits perfectly
with the abortion-infanticide Democrats. His highest priority in 2019
was enacting the Reproductive Health Act. According to The Washington
Times, the law “decriminalizes abortion and drops most of the state’s
previous restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks. It also allows
midwives and nurse practitioners to perform abortions.” As
the newspaper reported, Cuomo thought passage of the law was so great
that One World Trade Center, the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, the
Kosciuszko Bridge, and the Alfred E. Smith Building in Albany, “were lit
pink in celebration of the law.” Buttigieg, of course, is not that different from the other Democratic candidates on abortion. Former
Vice President Biden reversed his position on the Hyde Amendment, which
says taxpayers do not have to pay for abortions. By a majority of 57 to
36, Americans agreed in 2016 that their tax dollars should not be used
for abortions. Now, Biden is in favor of tax-paid abortions, as well as
for a litmus test on the issue of abortion for US Supreme Court
nominees. Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg also aligns closely
with the extremist pro-abortion group. When running for mayor, he
proposed that anyone studying to be a gynecologist or obstetrician
should be forced to learn how to perform abortions. (Under enormous
public pressure, he backed off and allowed moral and religious
exemptions). Allow me to answer Day’s question: The 2020
Democratic presidential candidates and the platform they’ll adopt in
Milwaukee will be radically pro-abortion – possibly including Governor
Northam’s infanticide phraseology. There will be no room for pro-life
Democrats. If rightly understood, this radical anti-life position
will cost Democrats the support of outspoken pro-life groups, including
many Protestant Christians, Mormons, Orthodox Jews, Catholics, and
Muslims. If
there indeed are 21 million pro-life Democrats, as Kristin Day
asserted, such an extreme position on abortion and infanticide
undoubtedly will lead to a landslide defeat à la George McGovern. This is the ordeal Democrats have coming down the road.
President Trump didn't have a serious challenger in the New Hampshire primary, but he still turned out enough voters to more than double former President Barack Obama's 2012 vote total
in the state, indicating that the Republican base is all-in on Trump as
he prepares to face the eventual Democratic nominee in a reelection
battle this November. With 87 percent of precincts reporting,
Trump secured more than 120,000 votes in the Granite State. In 2012,
Obama managed just 49,080 total votes in New Hampshire. The gap between
the two presidents is likely to increase as more precincts report their
totals Wednesday. It also dwarfs the total of other incumbent
presidents: then-President George W. Bush received 53,962 votes in the
largely-uncontested GOP primary in New Hampshire in 2004. And in 1996,
incumbent President Bill Clinton received 76,797 votes in New
Hampshire's primary. It follows a coordinated effort by the
Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign to drive up turnout
for Trump in New Hampshire -- something the other incumbents didn't do.
Trump himself revved up his supporters at a packed and fiery rally in
Manchester, N.H., on Monday, the eve of the state's primary.
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
"Nine
months from now, we are going to retake the House of Representatives,
we are going to hold the Senate, and we are going to keep the White
House," Trump said to thunderous applause. "We have so much more
enthusiasm, it's not even close. They're all fighting each other." In
the line to get into Trump's Monday rally, many of his voters seemed to
have a zeal uncommon for supporters of an incumbent president. Jay
McDonald of North Providence, R.I., said he “100 percent" supported
Trump four years ago and "nothing’s changed.” McDonald said he’s "maybe
more angry that they could do that [impeachment] to a president and get
away with it over nothing." "Hopefully he picks up more voters – the independent people – over that,” McDonald said. Democrats
largely owned the turnout in New Hampshire Tuesday -- first and second
place finishers Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg combined for almost
140,000 votes with 87 percent reporting -- but the Democratic primary is
still wide open and there was almost nothing at stake for Trump in the
New Hampshire race. His only primary challenger on the ballot was former
Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who had less than 10 percent of the GOP
vote with 87 percent in. The throngs that showed up for Trump's
Monday rally at Southern New Hampshire University were more than the
school's venue could hold with its 11,000 capacity, and the president
took the opportunity to tout his accomplishments and knock Democrats in
front of the large audience. "To support working families, we have
reduced the cost of child care, expanded paid leave, and given 40
million American families an average of $2,200 more in their pockets
thanks to the Republican child tax credit," Trump asserted. "We are the
party of equal opportunity for all Americans. He added: "While the
extreme left has been wasting America's time with this vile hoax, we've
been killing terrorists, creating jobs, raising wages, enacting fair
trade deals, securing our borders, and lifting up citizens of every
race, color, religion, and creed!" The
Trump campaign also touted a record turnout for an incumbent in the
Iowa caucuses, which came on the same night that Democratic turnout fell
well below expectations. About 176,000 Iowa Democrats attended
their precinct caucuses, a slight uptick from 2016 but fewer than
expected. That total is nowhere near the party's 2008 numbers, when
roughly 238,000 Iowans participated in the kickoff clash among Hillary
Clinton, Barack Obama, onetime Iowa favorite John Edwards, and a handful
of others. “It was lower than I expected,” said former Iowa
Democratic Party executive director Norm Sterzenbach, who has been
advising Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s campaign. “It was definitely
lower than what the conventional wisdom was.” The
New Hampshire numbers come as the president's supporters have been
fired up in recent days: Just last week Trump was acquitted of two
articles of impeachment, gave a largely well-received State of the Union
and ran up the score in Iowa. Meanwhile, Democrats have been running
attack ads on each other, dealing with the fallout of House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tearing up Trump's speech at the end of the
State of the Union and roiling from an Iowa caucus debacle that still
does not have an official winner. When asked about the Democratic
field outside of the president's New Hampshire rally, one of Trump's
fervent supporters, Air Force Veteran Mike Grunwald, gave a frank
assessment of the party's chances to unseat Trump in November. "They're all going to lose," he said. Fox News Gregg Re and Paul Steinhauser, as well as the Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON
(AP) — After the Parkland school shooting in Florida two years ago,
President Donald Trump chided Republican lawmakers for being too
“scared” of the National Rifle Association to tighten gun laws — then
backed away from the idea.
After
back-to-back mass shootings in Ohio and Texas in 2019, Trump embraced
calls for “strong background checks” — only to backpedal once again.
Now,
as he primes the pump on his 2020 reelection effort, Trump is going
all-in on embracing the mantle of gun rights champion, a stark turn from
earlier moments in his presidency when he toyed with the idea of
pushing Congress to enact stricter gun laws.
There
was no public discussion of tighter gun laws when Trump welcomed
Parkland families to the White House for a private meeting on Monday,
four days before the two-year anniversary of the rampage that left 17
dead. Instead, administration officials unveiled a website intended to
help educators, parents and law enforcement address threats to school
safety.
In
recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly warned supporters at his rallies that
Democrats “will take your guns away.” Last month, he labeled Virginia
Gov. Ralph Northam a “whack job” as gun rights advocates protested the
Democratic governor’s moves to tighten gun laws in the aftermath of a
mass shooting in Virginia Beach.
Drawing
a straight line from gun rights to presidential politics, Trump tweeted
that Democrats in the state “will take your guns away. Republicans will
win Virginia in 2020. Thank you Dems!”
And
on Monday night, as he came to the apex of an hourlong campaign speech
in New Hampshire, Trump framed his supporters’ Second Amendment right to
bear arms as being as precious as the rights to privacy, free speech
and religious freedom.
Campaign
officials believe the effort could help put states like Minnesota, New
Mexico and New Hampshire in play. For that to happen, Trump will need to
draw even more rural and white men to the polls -- key groups that
helped drive the president’s 2016 surprise victory.
Trump’s
advisers believe his consistent efforts to spotlight his credentials as
a Second Amendment warrior can help him draw a contrast with the
eventual Democratic presidential nominee. The top tier of Democratic
candidates have made bolstering gun restrictions a key part of their
platforms.
Mike
Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, has poured millions from his
own fortune into supporting a series of gun control advocacy groups.
Former Vice President Joe Biden served as the Obama administration’s
point man on the president’s failed push for sweeping gun reform laws
following the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut. Vermont Sen.
Bernie Sanders, who got a D- grade from the NRA, has been knocked by
fellow Democrats for not being tough enough on gun restrictions.
“Democrats
have shown they don’t respect the Second Amendment, which will be one
of many contrasts drawn during the campaign,” Trump campaign spokesman
Tim Murtaugh said.
After
spending more than $50 million in support of Trump’s 2016 election
victory, the NRA is likely to have less impact on this election cycle,
said Robert Spitzer, a professor of political science at the State
University of New York-Cortland whose research focuses on American gun
laws.
The
powerful gun rights group has been mired in financial difficulties,
internal strife within the organization’s leadership, and probes by the
New York attorney general’s office that threaten the group’s tax-exempt
status.
Trump’s
joint campaign committees and the Republican national party committee
had $195 million in cash on hand at the close of 2019, making the NRA’s
money less significant this election cycle.
But
with a hard gun-rights pitch, Trump appears to be strategizing that he
could persuade some voters who have become disenchanted with politics to
come back to the ballot box to vote for him.
“He
really is doubling down not on the broadening of his base but for
pushing for higher turnout among his people,” Spitzer said. “One of the
keys in 2016, but not the only one, was that turnout among rural white
voters was a little higher than predicted. This pitch, he figures, will
help him get there.”
Trump
and fellow Republicans are likely to face a deluge of spending from gun
control advocates, who think their message will resonate with
on-the-fence suburban voters.
Everytown
for Gun Safety, an umbrella group of gun control advocacy organizations
funded by Bloomberg, recently announced that it would spend $60 million
to beat gun rights proponents on the state and federal level in 2020.
The
group has not said how much it much it would spend on the presidential
race, but thus far has budgeted $1.25 million to help reelect North
Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro,
both Democrats. It also plans to spend some of that first tranche of
money toward beating two Republican senators, Cory Gardner of Colorado
and Martha McSally of Arizona.
Gun
control advocates feel emboldened after the 2018 midterm elections in
which more than 30 NRA-backed Republican candidates lost their races.
“His
tactic has been to say incendiary things about guns to whip up the
base, but he and the NRA haven’t been able to pass any of the gun
lobby’s priority legislation — even with a Republican Congress for two
years,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Mom’s Demand Action, part of the
Everytown for Gun Safety coalition.
When
Trump met with members of the group Stand with Parkland on Monday,
administration officials highlighted the school safety website. Stand
with Parkland backed the creation of the website — but it also has urged
Congress to require universal background checks on gun purchases.
Asked
if there was disappointment in the president backing away from taking
on background checks, one Parkland parent who met with Trump, Max
Schachter, said the president’s efforts should not be minimized.
“Of
course there is always more that can be done,” said Schachter, whose
14-year-old son, Alex, was among the victims at Parkland. “But let’s not
let perfection be the enemy of good.”
On
the campaign trail, Trump’s dire warnings about what might happen to
American gun owners if a Democrat wins the White House have become a
regular line in his speeches, reliably drawing boos and hisses for his
to-be-determined opponent.
At
a recent campaign rally in Iowa, Trump again turned his attention back
to Virginia, where Democrats in November claimed majorities in both
houses of the legislature and secured the first unified Democratic
government in the commonwealth in 26 years.
“In
the state of Virginia they want to take your guns away, can you believe
it?” Trump said. “I love Virginia. Of all states, they want to take
your guns away. The Democrats. Not going to happen.”
He
offered similar dark predictions to a friendly crowd last month in New
Jersey, saying the gun control effort in Virginia was “just the
beginning.”
And
on Monday night, he reassured New Hampshire supporters that his
administration is “going to protect your Second Amendment, by the way.”
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — President Donald Trump traveled
Monday to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to pay respects to two U.S.
soldiers killed Saturday in Afghanistan when a soldier dressed in an
Afghan army uniform opened fire with a machine gun. National security adviser Robert O’Brien told reporters traveling with Trump on Air Force One that the president wrapped up a reelection campaign
rally in New Hampshire a bit early so he could visit with the families
of the soldiers. He described such moments as “probably the toughest
thing he does as president,” along with visiting wounded soldiers at
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon
his arrival at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, Monday, Feb. 10,
2020, in Manchester, N.H., for a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
“These are terrible sacrifices for the families. And
these guys are heroes, they’re real warriors and did a great job for the
American people,” O’Brien said. “These are tough times. It’s tough for
the president but he thinks it’s important to be there for the families
and recognize them.” The Defense Department has identified the dead American soldiers
as Sgt. Javier Jaguar Gutierrez, 28; and Sgt. Antonio Rey Rodriguez,
28. Six other American soldiers were wounded in the attack. Gutierrez
was born in Jacksonville, N.C. He had also served in Iraq. Rodriguez
was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He deployed eight times in support
of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, which began in 2015. Both men were
posthumously promoted to Sgt. 1st Class and awarded the Bronze Star
Medal and Purple Heart. Six U.S. service members have been killed
in Afghanistan since the start of 2020, including Saturday’s casualties.
Last year, 20 U.S. service personnel died in combat there and there
were two non-combat deaths. The incident came as Washington has sought to find an end to the war in Afghanistan.
President Trump said he was looking to get under Democrats' skin Monday with a rally in New Hampshire on the eve of the state's first-in-the-nation primaries, and he wasted little time -- quickly reliving his dramatic State of the Union speech with a thinly veiled shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "I had somebody behind me who was mumbling terribly," Trump mused, as chants of "Lock her up!" broke out. "Very
distracting. Very distracting," Trump continued. "I'm speaking, and a
woman is mumbling terribly behind me. There was a little anger back
there. We're the ones who should be angry, not them." Trump sped through his remarks to attendees unusually quickly, so that he could head to Dover Air Force base in Delaware late Monday night to participate in the dignified transfer of the remains of two soldiers killed recently in Afghanistan. Before
he departed the rally, the president made sure to thank Pelosi for
giving Republicans the highest poll numbers they've "ever" had -- or at
least since 2005, according to a recent Gallup survey. Pelosi, who ripped up
Trump's State of the Union address as soon as it concluded, was widely
criticized especially after videos emerged showing she had visibly torn some of the pages in advance. "Nine
months from now, we are going to retake the House of Representatives,
we are going to hold the Senate, and we are going to keep the White
House," Trump said to thunderous applause. "We have so much more
enthusiasm, it's not even close. They're all fighting each other. ...
They don't know what they're doing; they can't even count their votes." Perhaps worst of all, Trump said, liberals and the "fake news" media simply "can't take a joke." Later,
he again jabbed the Democrats over the Iowa caucus debacle and the
party's treatment of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.: "The Democratic Party
wants to run your health care, but they can't even run a caucus in Iowa.
... Actually, I think they're trying to take it away from Bernie again.
They're doing it to you again, Bernie! They're doing it to you again."
President Trump speaking at his campaign rally Monday in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Huge crowds gathered in the overflow viewing area
outside the packed Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) arena in
Manchester, which can hold approximately 11,000. Earlier in the
day, Trump retweeted a post from ABC News Chief White House
Correspondent Jonathan Karl: "Cold rain, snow and lots of Trump
supporters. Despite the miserable weather, there are already more people
lining up outside the venue of @realDonaldTrump‘s rally tonight than you see at most of the events for the Democratic candidates. Some have been out here all night." At
the rally, Trump remarked to applause, "We have more in this arena and
outside this arena than all of the other candidates, meaning
the Democrats, put together and multiplied by five. ... We have never
had an empty seat from the day your future First Lady and I came down
the escalator." Turning to illegal immigration and "insane" sanctuary cities -- just minutes after Attorney General Bill Barr announced sweeping new sanctions against sanctuary cities -- the president boasted that his administration had built over 100 miles of wall on the southern border. "You
have to see -- you wouldn't believe it, when that wall goes up, the
numbers change like magic," Trump said. "Two things never change: a
wheel and a wall." The president then delivered a dramatic reading
of a 1968 Al Wilson song that he used as an allegory to illegal
immigration, in which a "tender woman" let a snake inside her home, only
to suffer a "vicious bite." "'Now I'm going to die,'" the woman
complained. "'Shut up, silly woman,' said the reptile with a grin; 'You
knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.'" Attendees both
inside and outside the SNHU arena erupted in cheers.
President Donald Trump arrives at SNHU Arena to speak at a
campaign rally, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. (AP
Photo/Evan Vucci)
The Mexican government has played a key role in keeping illegal border crossings down, the president added, noting that he had pressured the country to
do so under the threat of tariffs last year. Washington Democrats, by
contrast, "want to let anyone into our country" and "give them free health care" and "free education," Trump said. That was a reference to a recent presidential debate, when all candidates on stage seemingly endorsed the idea of paying for illegal immigrants' health expenses. Additionally, Trump again honored House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., saying he looked "better now than when he got shot" in
2017 by a radical Sanders supporter while playing softball. Capitol
Police officers took down the attacker as Scalise tried to crawl away,
in a dramatic moment that Trump recounted last week at the White House.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence watch as a
U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of
Sgt. 1st Class Javier Gutierrez, of San Antonio, Texas, Monday, Feb. 10,
2020, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to the Department of
Defense both Gutierrez and Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rodriguez, of Las
Cruces, N.M., died Saturday, Feb. 8, during combat operations in
Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The president, as he did during the State of the
Union, further touted the historically low unemployment numbers for the
country and minority groups specifically, as the crowd screamed, "USA!"
Democrats' sweeping and expensive policies and regulations, Trump
argued, would crush the stock market and reverse the ongoing economic
boom.
"The Democratic Party wants to run your health care, but they can't even run a caucus in Iowa." — President Trump
"To
support working families, we have reduced the cost of child care,
expanded paid leave, and given 40 million American families an average
of $2,200 more in their pockets thanks to the Republican child tax
credit," Trump asserted. "We are the party of equal opportunity for all
Americans." He added, "While the extreme left has been wasting
America's time with this vile hoax, we've been killing terrorists,
creating jobs, raising wages, enacting fair trade deals, securing our
borders, and lifting up citizens of every race, color, religion, and
creed!"
Supporters waiting for the start of President Trump's rally Monday in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
In an apparent flub as he attempted to appeal to the
hometown crowd, Trump then seemingly confused the pivotal Revoluntary
War site of Concord, Mass., with the less notable Concord, N.H. "I
love Concord. ... That's the same Concord we read about all the time,
right?" Trump asked. In fact, the Battles of Lexington and Concord
occurred in Massachusetts. The rally was part of a
tried-and-tested tactic for Trump: scheduling counter-programming to
divert attention from the Democrats' debates and other major moments,
keeping him in the spotlight and building supporters' enthusiasm in the
months before Election Day. Though it may not be the same show of
force as last week, when dozens of Trump's surrogates, including
officials from across all levels of government, flooded the state of
Iowa, the Trump campaign made its presence known in New Hampshire before
the state's primaries. Vice
President Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and
senior adviser, got to the state ahead of the president to do some
campaigning. Also being deployed by the president's re-election
campaign: Scalise, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul, New
Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and Trump's former campaign manager, New
Hampshire resident Corey Lewandowski. Still, the marquee event has
been Trump's rally, and supporters started lining up for it Sunday.
Images of bundled-up supporters camped outside the SNHU Arena in
Manchester broke through the news coverage of the Democrats' primary.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence depart after
watching a casualty return for Sgt. 1st Class Javier Gutierrez, of San
Antonio, Texas and Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rodriguez, of Las Cruces,
N.M., Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. According to
the Department of Defense both died Saturday, Feb. 8, during combat
operations in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
New Hampshire has always loomed large in Trump's
political lore as the first nominating contest he won during 2016's
heated Republican primaries. He was about to take the stage at a
rally in Manchester that October when news broke that the FBI was
re-opening its investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, breathing
new life into his then-struggling campaign. And, it was the site
of the penultimate rally of the 2016 contest — an extravagant send-off
just hours before a post-midnight rally in Michigan. Though Trump
narrowly lost New Hampshire in the general election four years ago, his
team has said it's one of the few states that could flip to red in
November. Democrats in the state had a different view. "It's
obvious that Trump and the RNC are desperate to put New Hampshire in
play after losing the state by 3,000 votes in 2016. But, we'll make sure
that Granite Staters know that he has broken his promises to his state
and he will lose here again in November," New Hampshire Democratic Party
Chairman Ray Buckley told reporters. The
president relished the idea of dominating the stage in New Hampshire
and stealing some of the media oxygen from the Democrats. Advisers
reportedly hoped that Secret Service moves in downtown Manchester to
secure the area for the president's arrival would make it harder for
Democrats and their supporters to transverse the state’s largest city in
the hours before the primary's first votes are cast. Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report
MANCHESTER, NH – New Hampshire’s
presidential primary kicked off at midnight – as voters in three tiny
townships in the state’s North Country and White Mountains cast the
first ballots in the first primary in the White House race. Dixville
Notch – which has held the midnight voting tradition for 60 years – as
well as nearby Millsfield and Hart’s Location – grab the national
spotlight every four years as they report the first results in New
Hampshire. On the final day before the before primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders
emphasized to supporters that “what happens here in New Hampshire is
enormously important...the whole country is not only looking at New
Hampshire - in fact the whole world is looking at New Hampshire.” The populist senator from Vermont who’s
making his second straight White House run is in the driver’s seat – is
sitting atop the final public opinion polls, drawing large and
energetic crowds in the closing days, and sporting arguably the largest
grassroots get-out-the-vote operation in the Granite State. After getting out of Iowa’s caucuses with essentially a tie with 2020 nomination rival Pete Buttigieg, expectations are high for Sanders in a state where he shares home-field advantage with fellow progressive standard-bearer Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. As
he did in Iowa, Sanders is stressing to his supporters that “if we have
the highest voter turnout in New Hampshire primary history, I am
confident that we are going to win here in New Hampshire and if we win
here in New Hampshire, we're going to set the pace to win Nevada and
South Carolina and California.” But meeting expectations in a state where he crushed eventual nominee Hillary Clinton four years ago is crucial for Sanders. Sanders
closed out his bid in the first primary state with a massive rally and
concert that drew over 7,500 to the University of New Hampshire at
Durham - which was by far the largest crowd for any Democratic
presidential candidate in New Hampshire this cycle. He was joined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a bunch of other high profile surrogates. “New
Hampshire remains Bernie’s to lose. He dominated in 2016 and his
coalition seems confident again. That said, if he doesn’t win, it’s a
huge hit to the Sanders path,” emphasized longtime Democratic strategist
Sean Downey, a national adviser on Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey’s now
defunct 2020 presidential bid and a veteran of numerous political
campaigns in New Hampshire.’ Sanders
declared victory in Iowa – where the results dribbled in for days after
a reporting debacle on caucus night – by pointing to his lead in the
raw vote totals coming out of the caucus precinct sites. Buttigieg -the former South Bend, Indiana mayor
- also claimed victory, spotlighting his narrow edge in the percentage
of state delegates won. And for Buttigieg – like Sanders – a strong
finish in New Hampshire is vital for his hopes of capturing the
nomination. Buttigieg was also stressing the importance of the
primary, telling supporters the eve of the primary that Tuesday will be a
“historic night that will set the course for the party and the rest of
the world. We are lucky and unlucky enough to be in a point of history
where it will be recorded what we did.” The 38-year old candidate –
the youngest in the field – told supporters on the primary eve that
Tuesday will be a "historic night that will set the course for the party
and the rest of the world." Buttigieg closed in on Sanders in the
polls in the days after the Iowa caucuses. But one of the two tracking
polls suggested that the candidate saw his numbers drop over the
weekend. That wasn’t reflected on the campaign trail, as Buttigieg drew
more than 5,000 people to his events on Sunday. Buttigieg has
struggled to resonate with African American and Latino voters. And with
the White House race moving next to Nevada and South Carolina – which
have much more diverse electorates – a strong finish in New Hampshire is
paramount for Buttigieg. Pointing to the calendar ahead, Downey
emphasized that “Mayor Pete’s situation here is urgent given his real
lack of traction in the south and out west.” Illustrating
the tension between the top two contenders, Buttigieg once again took
aim at Sanders on Monday, saying that “at a moment when our country is
so divided we can't risk further polarizing the American people. That's
why I'm very concerned about the suggestion that either you got to be
for revolution, or you must be for the status quo, because that vision
of politics as all or nothing is a vision that most of us can't see
where we fit in.” Sanders – who’s funding his massive campaign war chest through small dollar grassroots donation – took jabs at Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden – saying they “have dozens and dozens of billionaires contributing to their campaigns.” The
former vice president’s message on Monday night to his supporters:
“stick with me 24 hours and we’re going to be just fine. We’re going to
win this nomination.” Biden’s said he’s not “writing off” New Hampshire– but it sure looks like he’s lowering expectations. “I
took a hit in Iowa and I’m probably going to take a hit here,” Biden
said in a striking moment at the top of Friday night’s prime-time
Democratic presidential nomination debate. Asked the next day by
Fox News if he was writing off the Granite State, the former vice
president fired back, saying, “I’m not writing off New Hampshire. I’m
going to campaign like hell here in New Hampshire, as I’m going to do in
Nevada, in South Carolina and beyond. Look, this is just getting going
here. This is a marathon.” For Biden, however, at least a
third-place finish here could be critical, if only to prevent an exodus
of donors and the possible erosion of his so-called "firewall" of
support in the looming South Carolina contest. With the race for first
increasingly looking to be between Sanders and Buttigieg, Biden’s
essentially battling with Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota for
a top-three ticket out of the Granite State. It's a stunning
predicament for the candidate who was once the unrivaled front-runner
for the nomination. He's long made electability central to his campaign
pitch. But University of New Hampshire pollster Andrew Smith highlighted
that the final UNH tracking poll for CNN – conducted after Biden’s
lackluster fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, indicate that
“Bernie Sanders is seen as the most electable candidate” to take on
Republican President Donald Trump in November’s general election. “If
your candidacy is based on electability, once you don’t win elections,
that electability argument dissipates very rapidly,” Smith explained,
“If Biden does very poorly in New Hampshire, going forward those voters
in Nevada and South Carolina are going to look at that electability
argument in a very different light because to be electable, you need to
win elections.” Warren – once a co-frontrunner in the nomination
race - is also under the spotlight. She faced a deluge of questions the
past couple of days from reporters asking how crucial a strong finish in
New Hampshire is to her White House bid “I didn't start by doing
polls a year ago, and I still don't do polls,” responded the
senator, who famously avoids all talk of her position in the polls. Warren
– who’s repeatedly avoided saying New Hampshire’s a “must-win” state,
has emphasized that “the way I see this is it’s going to be a long
campaign…we’ve built a campaign to go the distance.” Talking to
reporters on her campaign’s press bus on Monday, the candidate told
reporters “I've been counted down and out for much of my life.” But
she emphasized that “you get knocked down, you get back up. And you
keep fighting because it's not about me, it's about the people who are
counting on me.” Downey noted that “with a full field, the
difference between third and fourth could be a few points and I’d look
to strong organizing game and surrogate operations from Warren and Biden
to make things interesting.” But thanks to a last-minute surge, add Klobuchar to the mix in the fight for third place. Klobuchar
touted on Monday that “as you probably heard we’re on a bit of a surge.
I woke up this morning to find out that we are third in two polls.” One
of the two final surveys – a Suffolk University tracking poll for the
Boston Globe and WBZ – suggested that Klobuchar soared nine percentage
points over the past two days. But the big question is whether Klobuchar can capitalize on her late tide of momentum. Smith
cautioned that “I don’t think though that Klobuchar’s going to have the
organization necessary to take advantage of her debate performance and
her performance in Iowa and get those people out to vote. She doesn’t
have anywhere near the on-the-ground organization as the other top
candidates.” Adding to the uncertainty ahead of the primary
results – the fact that Granite Staters are traditionally late deciders.
The final polls illustrate the point – showing that nearly half of
those who are currently backing a candidate suggested that they could
change their minds before they vote. Smith gauged that “I would see, easily 15-20% of New Hampshire Democrats making up their mind on primary day.” And Downey said “I can’t stress this enough. New Hampshire likes underdogs and will decide late. This race isn’t over.” Fox News' Kelly Phares, Tara Prindiville, Andrew Craft, Andres del Aguilla, and Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon
his arrival at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, Monday, Feb. 10,
2020, in Manchester, N.H., for a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
