How New Hampshire Voted

Perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising given Sanders’s lack of history with the Democratic Party, but he is doing far better with undeclared voters than he is with registered Democrats. Although he leads 72 percent to 27 percent over Clinton among undeclared voters, Sanders is tied with Clinton at 49 percent among registered Democrats. That could paint trouble for Sanders in closed primaries, when only registered Democrats can vote.

Clinton just finished her concession speech, and harking back to Obama’s 2008 campaign theme, she spoke about “change” a lot. But despite her loss to Sanders, it appeared that she was more focused on setting herself apart from her Republican counterparts, expressing her support for “human rights” — calling out “women rights,” “gay rights,” “voter rights,” etc. — than she was on setting herself apart from Sanders.

On Twitter, a reader asks how a Rubio-Kasich-Bush stalemate ends and suggests: Jokes about the individuals aside, I think this is a really important point. The fraying of party ties and formal organizations and the ways in which presidents can independently cultivate political support have contributed to this situation. This is the result of an increasingly powerful and public presidency. It’s also an unintended consequence of party reform. The party networks people mention that groups like super PACs play the same role party elders once did. But I maintain that party organizations, which are interested in the party’s viability from year to year, and the related groups that make up their networks have different incentives. And their methods of sanctioning candidates who don’t get in line are coming up short.