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Democratic Presidential Challengers Seek Momentum in New Hampshire Primary

VOA News

   WASHINGTON - Voters in the northeastern U.S. state of New Hampshire are
   casting ballots Tuesday in the Democratic primary as candidates look to
   build early momentum in the race to oppose President Donald Trump in
   the November national election.

   Just after midnight, voters in Dixville Notch made the first selections
   in the state, with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg getting
   two votes in the Democratic primary, followed by one vote each for Sen.
   Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

   In a curious twist, Bloomberg, who in his political career has been a
   Democrat, Republican and independent, also got a write-in vote as a
   Republican. Thus far, the billionaire has focused his campaigning on
   states later in the voting calendar and with a huge emphasis on
   television advertising.

   Polls in most areas open later in the morning, and results are likely
   Tuesday evening.

   The contest in New Hampshire has taken on added consequence in the
   aftermath of a split vote in last week's Iowa caucuses that were
   remembered mostly for the agonizingly slow release of the final outcome
   that was linked to a wrongly coded app used in collecting vote totals
   from throughout the farm state.

   In the end, Buttigieg edged Sanders, a self-declared democratic
   socialist, in Iowa.

   Pre-election polls showed Sanders ahead of Buttigieg in New Hampshire.
   Three other contenders are also hoping for a good showing in Tuesday's
   vote: former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren of
   Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, all of whom trailed the
   leaders in Iowa.

   Small, mostly white New Hampshire is hardly reflective of the racial
   and ethnic diversity of the United States as a whole, but its
   importance every four years at the start of the presidential election
   campaign is recognized by both Democrats and Republicans.

   The New Hampshire winner could gain an edge in the next two Democratic
   contests, in Nevada and South Carolina, which are scheduled for the
   last two Saturdays in February, ahead of 14 states voting on March 3.

   Meanwhile, Trump staged a Monday night rally for his supporters in the
   snow-covered state where he criticized the Democratic field.

   "They're all fighting each other. They're all going after each other,"
   Trump said. "They don't know what they're doing."

   U.S. Democrats say their chief aim in the long slog of state contests
   to pick a nominee to oppose Trump is to find the most likely choice who
   can defeat him. All of the Democratic challengers defeat Trump in
   hypothetical national matchups, but the margins have edged closer in
   recent surveys, with Trump taking credit for a strong U.S. economy and
   winning acquittal last week in the Senate on impeachment charges
   brought against him by Democrats in the House of Representatives.

   All the Democrats are claiming they are best equipped to take on Trump.

   "Let me start by asking you to form in your mind an image that I always
   ask voters to picture, because I picture it every day," Buttigieg told
   his supporters at a Monday rally. "And it's the image of what it's
   going to be like the first time that the sun comes up over the
   mountains and lakes of New Hampshire and Donald Trump is no longer the
   president of the United States."

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