"We have just won the New Hampshire primaries. What we have done together here is nothing less than the beginning of a political revolution. Thanks to this victory we will also win the next," announces Bermie Sanders in front of a crowd of exultant fans.
Confirming the predictions of the eve, the socialist senator wins the second round of the dem primaries in New Hampshire with 26%, leaving less than two points the former mayor of South Bend Pete Buttigieg, who in Iowa had beaten him by a whisker ripping off two more delegates. Both come out of the ballot box strengthened as the frontrunners of the race and as the standard bearers of the two souls of the party, the radical and the moderate one. Living in nearby Vermont, Bernie had the advantage of playing almost at home in this small and progressive white state of New England, where in 2016 he had triumphed with 60.40%, surpassing by 22 points the only rival, Hillary Clinton. Today, however, he had to deal with a parterre of nine other candidates, who dispersed the vote, although two have already announced the withdrawal: the entrepreneur of Asian origin Andrew Yang and the Colorado senator Michael Bennet. The ex-Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is expected by the hour.
Mayor Pete can also sing victory: "You have chosen a new era of challenges with a new generation of leaders", she says in front of her supporters, thanking her husband Chasten ("the love of my life that keeps me down to earth" ) and all the candidates, starting from Sanders, "whom I admire since I was a student and respect". Then he is also able to appeal to the independent and "future ex-Republicans" to create a "broad, inclusive" coalition. And to attack Trump, "the most divisive president in American history" who "compromised the credibility of the United States in the world".
The surprise of the evening was the Minnesota center senator Amy Klobuchar, who finished third with almost 20%, undermining Buttigieg's leadership and clearly winning the all-female challenge with the most noble colleague Elizabeth Warren, who fell from the podium below 10%. The rise of Klobuchar was predicted by the polls but his is a real exploit because it makes scorched earth between himself and Joe Biden. "Hello America, I'm Amy Klobuchar and I will beat Donald Trump", she introduced herself to the fans, proud to have redefined the word "grit" (liver) and to have denied the Cassandre: "I came back and I scored the result. L America deserves a resilient president like his people. "
Debacle instead for Warren, who has not even benefited from the proximity of his Massachusetts and who will now have to reflect on whether to continue the fratricidal duel with Sanders for the leadership of the progressive wing. For now, however, she does not throw in the towel, contradicting Trump's predictions that he gave her back home to "have a nice cold beer with her husband": "The battle to save our democracy is an uphill battle, but our campaign is built for a long distance and we just started. " The senator congratulated Sanders, Buttigieg and Klobuchar but said that "the factional battle in our party has taken a sharp turn in the past few weeks" and thinks she is still the best candidate for joining the dems.
The other defeated (announced) of the evening is the party's moderate candidate of the establishment, Joe Biden, who went worse than expected, slipping from fourth place in Iowa to fifth place in New Hampshire with an embarrassing 8.4%. The former vice president, who started as a favorite at the start of the race, had put his hands forward by announcing that after the blow he suffered in Iowa he would take another in New Hampshire.
The blow was so much in the air that he preferred to 'run away' to the ballot box in South Carolina, which with Nevada is his last hope of 'backback' thanks to blacks and Latinos. "My race is not over, we are only at the beginning, the African American and Hispanic community has not yet expressed itself," he raised. But on March 3 the test of Super Tuesday awaits him, when the billionaire Michael Bloomberg will also take the field, taken off from the polls on the wave of his millionaire spots and already target of Donald Trump's poison tweets.