MANCHESTER, NH -- Just in case my previous post failed to fully convey the totality of Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire loss, just pick your way through the exit poll cross tabs. What those can't show you, incidentally, is the vote gap between Republicans and Democrats. Just as we saw in Iowa, GOP turnout was up significantly over previous cycles, and ended up beating the Democrats head-to-head. For example, Donald Trump -- running in a very crowded field -- won more raw votes than Hillary Clinton did in a two-way race. Overall, with 89 percent of the vote tallied, Republican candidates had earned roughly 261,000 votes from Granite Staters, versus approximately 240,000 for Democrats. Back to Mrs. Clinton's fiasco, which inspired...unkind media coverage across the board, for obvious reasons. It started with the Clinton camp's preemptive surrender, and spiraled from there (via the Free Beacon):
The Republican National Committee put out a memo foreclosing Team Hillary's various avenues for spin, arguing that here's no way to downplay the significance of Clinton's landslide setback in what shouldn't have been hostile territory for her:
RNC memo spells out reasons why Team Hillary can't spin away NH destruction as NBD or "expected:" pic.twitter.com/iC5PfuYtuu
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 10, 2016
By the way, everyone assumes Hillary is all teed-up for a smashing South Carolina win in a few weeks. Her polling lead is overwhelming down there, but does her apparent Palmetto State strength tell the whole story moving forward, especially heading into Nevada? The Washington Post says no, and Clinton's campaign has already shifted to aggressively downplaying expectations:
HRC camp on Nevada: "It’s still a state that is 80% white voters... caucus-style format... He’ll have the momentum." https://t.co/jqWknuSQyp
— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) February 10, 2016
I'll leave you with my comments on Fox and Friends earlier, highlighting Hillary's atrocious showing not only on trustworthiness, but on 'caring' and empathy:
.@guypbenson: Bernie Sanders crushed Hillary Clinton with voters who prioritize caring & empathy pic.twitter.com/BZhrBr4a09
— Fox & Friends First (@FoxFriendsFirst) February 10, 2016