New Hampshire debate: Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg clash, as Joe Biden seeks a come back
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After a tumultuous week gathering results from Monday's Iowa caucus, Democrats faced off in a New Hampshire debate before ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation primary next week to help determine the Democratic nominee in the 2020 presidential election. New Hampshire, neighbouring the home states of both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, will hold its primary on 11 February.
The debate saw intense clashes, with Mr Sanders and Pete Buttigieg defending their momentum out of Iowa, where the two candidates led the pack. Joe Biden was on the offensive as well, even as he recognised that a win in New Hampshire may be a long shot — and candidate Amy Klobuchar provided a strong night as she seeks a surprise moment in the race.
Following delays and reports of inconsistencies that could significantly alter the final results, Mr Buttigieg barely cracked a razor-thin lead over Vermont senator Sanders, who captured the most votes in both rounds of the caucus but captured two fewer state delegate equivalents in that contest. Massachusetts senator Warren came in a near-distant third, and former vice president Joe Biden fell to fourth place.
Following his disappointing showing, Mr Biden has shaken up his campaign, promoting Anita Dunn to lead his White House bid, while Mr Sanders criticised Mr Buttigieg's billionaire-funded campaign as well as billionaire candidate Michael Bloomberg. "He is spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the election", Mr Sanders said. "There's something wrong with that."
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Officials in New Hampshire insist the state's Democratic party won't run into the same problems that plagued Iowa's caucus over the last week.
The primary election is 11 February.
Joe Biden is shaking up his campaign after an abysmal showing in Iowa, where the former vice president placed fourth.
According to the Associated Press, Anita Dunn will effectively be leading his White House bid, hoping to dig the campaign out of its poor showing as it heads into crucial primary elections in February.
Ms Dunn is a longtime Democratic strategist and former Obama White House staffer.
As the candidates begin their New Hampshire sprint, Bernie Sanders has criticised his opponents Michael Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg, whose razor-thin victory in Iowa still came up short to Mr Sanders' popular vote win.
Mr Sanders said both men have injected big money into the election, accusing the billionaire former New York mayor of buying the election, and pointing to Mr Buttigieg's billionaire-supported campaign.
"I like Pete Buttigieg", Mr Sanders said at the "Politics and Eggs" breakfast at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. "But we are in a moment where billionaires control not only our economy but our political [system]."
Following her apology to former Nevada staffers who felt the campaign had marginalised them as tokenised people of colour, Elizabeth Warren was mocked by Texas senator Ted Cruz in a tweet that Donald Trump also shared.
She said she's working to address those complaints with her staff despite her intention to "build a campaign and a work environment that's diverse and open, [where] everyone is welcome and celebrated and gets to bring their whole self to work every day".
Let's take a look at some of the latest New Hampshire polls:
Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are statistically tied in both the Monmouth University survey results and the Boston Globe/Suffolk University. Both surveys were taken after Iowa.
Mr Sanders is ahead with 24 per cent, with Mr Buttigieg at 20 per cent, in the Monmouth results.
Mr Buttigieg, at 23 per cent, is right behind Mr Sanders, at 24 per cent, in the Globe poll.
In an NBC/Marist poll, Mr Sanders surged three points since January to 25 per cent. Mr Buttigieg trails at 21 per cent, having jumped up four points.
The Vermont senator captured more votes than his opponents in Iowa, though he is virtually tied with Mr Buttigieg in state delegate equivalents.
Most Democrats in New Hampshire would rather be vaporised by a meteor that extinguishes all life on the planet than see Donald Trump be elected.
After losing Iowa, Joe Biden appears to be re-setting from his home state, leaving the campaign trail while his opponents swarm New Hampshire. He told supporters the Iowa loss was a "gut punch".
His campaign cancelled ad buys and shuffled staff, announcing the promotion of a former Obama aide to lead his White House bid and hoping to add some wind in his sails as the campaign prepares for crucial Super Tuesday states, where it thinks the former vice president will fare better.
The latest polls have him sinking in New Hampshire, dropping down to just 13 per cent in the latest NBC/Marist survey, after polling as the likely front-runner through the early months of the campaigns.
So, who is in tonight's debate? And when does it start?
Starting at 8pm EST, seven Democrats take the stage in Manchester, New Hampshire.
ABC and WMUR are hosting, with moderators George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC and Adam Sexton and Monica Hernandez of WMUR as the moderators.
Among the debating candidates are Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang.
It's the last debate before the primary on Tuesday, 11 February.
Hello, this is Andrew Buncombe in Seattle. Thanks for joining us for our coverage of the New Hampshire action, and tonight's Democratic debate
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