CNN reports at 6:00 AM
It appears to us that Marco Rubio is the big winner on the Republican side and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats.
The big blowhard from New York just got knocked on his ass. It is doubtful that the public in more typical states will embrace Cruz. (Commentators and historians will muse whether sitting out the last Republic debate didn’t prove suicidal for Trump.)
Instead of suffering the ignominious defeat that was expected, Hillary Clinton squeaked out a victory. She may now hold her own in New Hampshire and then ‘run the table’ thereafter for all practical purposes.
Message to Bernie Sanders: It is no longer a ‘beauty’ contest. People want an effective president.
I disagree re the Dems. The expectation, which the Clinton campaign worked hard to set, was that Clinton would come out on top by several percentage points. Sanders did much better than expected. At the end it was essentially a draw in terms of the raw numbers, yet by beating expectations as he did, Sanders comes out ahead. He certainly has greater momentum going into New Hampshire and then to Super Tuesday. The question now will be whether that can be sustained.