Bernie Sanders Raises your fist like the captain of a football team that has just won the Superbowl. The cheers in the sports hall of Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester before: deafening. Now he’s gaining strength again. They call, they scream, they shout their joy out. “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! »Two minutes until Sanders three times« Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ”Finally say“ Thank you, New Hampshire! ”. And as the noise subsides, it increases again as if it should only end when everyone is hoarse.
Sanders took his time. Over four hours after the polling stations closed, the winner finally came on stage. With wife, children and grandchildren. The man is 78 years old. Older than Trump. But his followers are mostly young.
Until his appearance, every new forecast that flickers on the big screen is greeted with new cheers. “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! »The fans shout. «Bernie Beats Trump! Bernies beats Trump! », Bernie beats Trump. Or: “Another world is possible, we are unstoppable”, another world is possible, we cannot be stopped. It is as if Bernie was already against Donald Trump won.
It is a feast for Sanders, the Senator from neighboring Vermont. When he takes the stage shortly after eleven, he is 26 percent, 1.6 percentage points ahead of Pete Buttigieg. There are 90 percent of the votes counted. That is scarce, but obviously enough for Sanders to call this election victory a «grandiose».
He makes it short. After thanking voters and volunteers, repeats his campaign hits: health insurance for everyone, end of mass detention, better rules for immigrants. Every point generates frantic applause. It is the applause of a revolution he wants to instigate in the United States.
For this, Sanders needs this victory. In Iowa, he still had to share first place with Pete Buttigieg. Although: Officially Buttigieg won there, he won 14 delegate votes, two more than Sanders. But Sanders claimed victory because the bottom line was 6,000 more people voted for him.
Sanders just better than Pete Buttigieg
The victory in New Hampshire, on the other hand, is scarce, but at least unassailable. An important signal for his followers. But then not as outstanding as in 2016, when he beat Hillary Clinton sensitively with a lead of 37 percent and 22 percentage points. And in the end didn’t win the nomination. Sanders will know that there is still a long way to go.
2,000 people came to the Bernie Sanders rally. As much as in no other pre-election rally Democrats,
Pete Buttigieg, who was mayor of the 100,000-inhabitant city of South Bend in Indiana until the beginning of the year, came in at a respectable second place with 24.4 percent. He is pleased that he is just behind Sanders here in New Hampshire. It could have ended differently. Chances of winning for this evening have been predicted. Anyone who has driven on the state’s highways in the past few days has seen many “Pete 2020” signs on the roadside. More than any other candidate. His rallies were at least well attended, if not overcrowded.
– Excerpts from Bernie Sanders’ acceptance speech in New Hampshire. (Video: Tamedia)
But Sanders was just better. He set a record on Sunday. 2000 people came to his rally. More than in any other Democratic pre-election rally. He topped it on Monday evening. 7500 people came to the jam-packed Whittemore Stadium in Durham.
Bernie Sanders is the left original of the Democrats
For Amy Klobuchar, Senator from Minnesota, third place with 19.8 percent is at least as great a success. In national surveys, she is cancerous with only four or five percent. She even won a few constituencies in New Hampshire. Many consider it the voice of reason in this heated race for ideological leadership. Or as Jack Lightfood, 72, from Goffstown near Manchester says on the way to the polling station: “She knows that not everything can happen at once.” By which he means above all the plans of Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for health insurance for everyone. Both give the impression that this could happen overnight. New Hampshire should bring new impetus to Klobuchar.
The Democratic party establishment would Joe Biden like to see on the ticket. But Bernie Sanders is now leading in three of the four latest polls.
Nothing comes to Klobuchar for a long time. Then Elizabeth Warren. With its 9.4 percent, it will slowly have to ask how long it will keep its campaign on track. Warren has a similarly progressive program as Sanders. However, it does not come off in the polls. It is becoming more and more obvious that if people want to send the left original into the presidential race against Trump. And that’s obviously Bernie Sanders.
The chances for a candidate have dropped radically this evening. Joe Biden, the former Vice President under Barack Obama and the most prominent of all candidates. The Democratic party establishment would like to see him on the ticket. And for a long time it looked very good for him. He has been leading the national surveys for a year.
Biden is already gone when the polling stations close
Now everything is different. 8.4 percent in New Hampshire. Fifth place. It is already something of a continuing story of suffering. In Iowa, he finished fourth only a week ago. In the four most recent national surveys released on Monday and Tuesday, Sanders now leads in three. In some cases clearly up to ten percentage points ahead of Biden. Sanders even leads in California. The state which, with 416 delegates, contributes the most votes to the Democratic Party Conference in the summer, at which the candidate is chosen. New Hampshire has only 24 delegates.
On Tuesday morning at 11:03 a.m. Biden had a rather surprising press release sent out. He’s not going to spend election night in New Hampshire. Instead, he wants to start the campaign in the south. He enjoys great support, especially among the many black voters there. He now has to convert these into much-needed victories. At around six in the evening, Joe Biden boarded the plane to South Carolina. An hour and a half before the polling stations close, he’s just gone.
The data that Biden apparently got from his people in New Hampshire in advance must have been devastating. This is confirmed later when the news channel CNN presents the first projection 15 minutes after the polling stations close. Biden is clearly below ten percent. A colossal defeat that he obviously doesn’t want to explain on the spot. His followers in New Hampshire only get to see him in the evening via live stream. Also a way to admit defeat. Wasn’t it even the case that the captain was the last to leave the sinking ship?
From afar, his followers must then hear him confuse New Hampshire with Nevada. His only encouragement: 99 percent of all black voters in New Hampshire had no chance to vote. Only he could win it. Without them, nobody would win the election.
It can be assumed that a number of voters at the last moment chose instead of Biden the 38-year-old Pete Buttigieg or Amy Klobuchar, the experienced Senator from Minnesota, both of whom appear rather moderate. In any case, there were undecided voters until the end.
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Created: 02/12/2020, 08:20 AM
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