{"id":10155,"date":"2016-02-09T09:01:20","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T17:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/candidates-sprint-to-new-hampshire-finish-but-brace-for-a-long-campaign\/"},"modified":"2016-02-09T09:01:20","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T17:01:20","slug":"candidates-sprint-to-new-hampshire-finish-but-brace-for-a-long-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/candidates-sprint-to-new-hampshire-finish-but-brace-for-a-long-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates sprint to New Hampshire finish, but brace for a long campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

SALEM, N.H.<\/strong> \u2014 Eyeing their first wins in a capricious campaign, Republican Donald Trump lashed out at his opponents Monday while Democrat Bernie Sanders sought to play it safe on the eve of the nation\u2019s initial primary. GOP contenders vying for second and third saw fresh hopes for survival after New Hampshire as both parties settled in for a drawn-out slog to the nomination.<\/p>\n

As snowfall brought yet more uncertainty to the race\u2019s final hours, Hillary Clinton tried to move past talk of a shake-up in her campaign and controversy over comments by supporters that women should feel obliged to vote for her. Barnstorming New Hampshire with her husband and daughter Chelsea Clinton, she worked to flip Sanders\u2019 favored critique against her by claiming that he, too, had taken big bucks from Wall Street \u2014 if only indirectly.<\/p>\n

But it was Trump, the billionaire businessman, who launched the harshest attacks \u2014 not against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who had bested him in Iowa but against Jeb Bush. The former Florida governor is one of three Republicans hoping Marco Rubio\u2019s recent stumbles have opened a fresh path for one of them to emerge as the more mainstream alternative to Trump and Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeb is having some kind of a breakdown, I think,\u201d Trump told CNN, calling Bush, the son and brother of presidents, a spoiled child and an embarrassment to his family. \u201cI think it\u2019s a very sad situation that\u2019s taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enmity was mutual. Vying for votes in Nashua, Bush described his opponent variably as a loser, a liar, a whiner and the worst choice for president. He blasted what he said was Trump\u2019s proclivity for \u201cinsulting women, castigating Hispanics, ridiculing the disabled and calling American POWs losers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Trump was running ahead in pre-primary polls, as was Sanders on the Democratic side.<\/p>\n

Not so long ago, Republicans saw New Hampshire as the proving ground that would winnow their chockablock field of candidates. Rubio\u2019s surge into third place in Iowa one week ago raised the prospect that voters here would anoint him over Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.<\/p>\n

Yet Rubio faced fresh questions about his readiness \u2014 and his ability to defeat the Democratic nominee \u2014 after Saturday\u2019s debate, when he was mocked for reciting rote talking point about President Barack Obama over and over.<\/p>\n

Growing doubts about Rubio seemed to portend a fight for delegates that could extend for weeks or months \u2014 to the dismay of Republican Party leaders hoping for a quick consolidation behind anyone but Cruz or Trump. Democrats are already resigned to the likelihood of a protracted primary following Sanders\u2019 strong performance in Iowa.<\/p>\n

Rubio insisted his repetitions were part of his plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople said, \u2018Oh, you said the same thing three or four times,\u2019\u201d Rubio told some 800 people in a school cafeteria in Londonderry. \u201cI\u2019m going to say it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sensing Rubio\u2019s vulnerability, nearly all everyone seemed to be on the attack.<\/p>\n

Bush\u2019s campaign debuted a new ad questioning Kasich\u2019s conservative credentials, while an outside group backing Rubio pulled an ad attacking Cruz and replaced it with one assailing Bush. Christie and Bush both piled on Rubio, claiming he hadn\u2019t been tested the way that governors have.<\/p>\n

All of them filled their calendars with campaign events in South Carolina, the next state to vote, signaling they had no intention of dropping out no matter the verdict in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

In the week since Clinton eked out a win in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, her campaign has worked aggressively to lower expectations for New Hampshire, where Sanders has maintained a sizeable lead despite Clinton\u2019s victory here eight years ago. Sanders, a Vermont senator, is well known to voters in neighboring New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

Clinton was shouldering renewed troubles amid talk of a possible campaign reshuffling. Although campaign manager Robbie Mook is expected to stay, some Clinton allies have said new advisers may be brought in after Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The former first lady insisted it was all overblown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea what they\u2019re talking about or who they are talking to,\u201d Clinton said on MSNBC. \u201cWe\u2019re going to take stock, but it\u2019s going to be the campaign that I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders, wary of upsetting a race trending his way, stuck to core campaign themes as he addressed cheering supporters in Nashua. In recent days Bill Clinton has accused some Sanders\u2019 supporters of waging \u201csexist\u201d attacks, and feminist Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have criticized women who aren\u2019t supporting Clinton.<\/p>\n

Sanders passed up all that on Monday, instead telling supporters in Nashua, \u201cWe have come a long way in the last nine months.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the campaign\u2019s closing hours, Trump was under pressure to walk back his call to subject some foreign prisoners to interrogation tactics harsher than waterboarding. Sen. John McCain, the GOP\u2019s 2008 nominee and a former prisoner of war, took him to task, but Trump stood by his threat.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Lederman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ken Thomas in Manchester, Holly Ramer in Hudson, Thomas Beaumont in Goffstown and Sergio Bustos and Lisa Lerer in Nashua contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SALEM, N.H. \u2014 Eyeing their first wins in a capricious campaign, Republican Donald Trump lashed out at his opponents Monday while Democrat Bernie Sanders sought to play it safe on the eve of the nation\u2019s initial primary. GOP contenders vying for second and third saw fresh hopes for survival after New Hampshire as both parties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":10156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10155"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}