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2016 Democratic Primary Tag

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I would not want to be Hillary Clinton this week (or any week for that matter). First, she's trounced by more than 20 points in New Hampshire's primary, then it's revealed that at least a dozen email accounts tossed top secret classified intel around her home-brewed email server, and now the Washington Post dished out this little scoop in all its glory. Whether the intel leaker is part of Team Hillary or the State Department, the WaPo does not make clear. Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea all received subpoenas from State Department investigators last fall requesting Clinton Foundation documents, "that may have required approval from the federal government during Hillary Clinton’s term as secretary of state."

I will admit I have a taste for sweet schadenfreude. After nearly a year of the elite media's reporting breathlessly on the war among Republicans, social media is now covering veritable insurrection occurring among the Democrats because of primary system shenanigans. Last week, we covered the Iowa Caucus coin flips that garnered Hillary Clinton more delegates than Bernie Sanders (despite the veritable tie). Now after trouncing Clinton in New Hampshire by a straight-up popular vote total difference over 20% points, Sanders will be leaving the state with an equal number of delegates.
...Sanders had won 13 delegates with his 20-point victory on Tuesday and is expected to raise that total to 15 by the time all of the votes are counted.

Welcome to our New Hampshire primary liveblog. We'll be updating periodically, so be sure to refresh your browser for the latest news. If you're just joining us, check out our previous open thread for the shenanigans you may have missed today. Trump and Sanders quickly declared winners. WAJ very quick assessment:
Get ready for Team Hillary to play the race card on Bernie -- exploiting the tensions between white liberals and Black Lives Matter. She will pander like she's never pandered before. On the Republican side, too many survived for any one of them to mount an immediate challege to Trump. Chris Christie committed murder-suicide in taking down Rubio at the last debate without helping himself. Jeb will keep going because he's so emotionally invested in it - pride comes before a fall. Politico obtained Jeb's post-NH strategy memo - Bush plans scorched-earth attack on Kasich, Rubio. Kasich will be a one-hit wonder. Cruz is the most viable challenger to Trump.
As of just after midnight and 80% reporting, here is the count:

It is too bad for the Clintons that the Internet can travel back nearly 20 years! Feminist icons spent the weekend shaming women into voting for Hillary Clinton. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, even smeared supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders as sexist trolls. But video taken 20 years ago show that Vermont's socialist representative was made an "honorary woman" by feminist luminary Gloria Steinem herself. (Jump ahead to 15:44)
[I]n 1996 the famous feminist traveled to Burlington, VT to endorse him (OVER his female opponent) in what was a tough re-election fight against Republican Susan Sweetser.

During the MSNBC Democratic debate, Chuck Todd asked if Hillary would release the transcripts of her paid speeches, particularly the three Goldman Sachs speeches for which she was paid $675,000 total. As the question was being asked, you could see Hillary's mental wheels spinning until she came up with the response she needed: I'll think about it. Hillary then quickly moved on to her robotic stump speech: After that awkward moment, Hillary deflected in classic Clintonian fashion, by setting preconditions she knew no one could or would meet -- everyone who ever gave a speech had to release all transcripts for all speeches. Hence, Hillary deflects from her massive Wall Street speaking fees:

Welcome to our New Hampshire Primary open thread! Thanks for stopping by. We'll be updating with well, updates, headlines and other sundry news, but most importantly -- things that make me laugh. Be sure to refresh your browser tab frequently for the latest. I'll be manning the thread all evening. Have questions? Put them in the comment section and I'll do my best to answer. Polls close at 7:00 PM ET in most of the state. But in 20 some-odd communities, polls will close at 8:00 PM ET. We'll cover reaction and results as they trickle in, but in a separate post.

FLASH POLL: Which Republican is MOST LIKELY to DROP OUT after New Hampshire?

This is probably my favorite thing on the internet right now. Two dudes wearing "Settle for Hillary" t-shirts sat right behind the embattled Democratic candidate at a town hall event in New Hampshire. Aaaaaannnd no one seemed to notice.

No one is happy. Not Bill. Not Hillary. Not the Democrats. No one. Apparently. This afternoon Politico that the Clinton campaign is considering a substantial staffing shakeup following what looks to be a loss in tomorrow's New Hampshire's primary.
Hillary and Bill Clinton are so dissatisfied with their campaign’s messaging and digital operations they are considering staffing and strategy changes after what’s expected to be a loss in Tuesday’s primary here, according to a half-dozen people with direct knowledge of the situation. The Clintons -- stung by her narrow victory in Iowa -- had been planning to reassess staffing at the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters after the first four primaries, but the Clintons have become increasingly caustic in their criticism of aides and demanded the reassessment sooner, a source told POLITICO.

Do you believe a wild-haired socialist is our only hope for a better America? Would you like a permanent reminder of the 2016 dumpster fire of an election cycle? Then this little ink shop in Vermont has got you covered. You too can be like dozens of others who have opted to feel the bern forever.

At the last Democrat debate, Hillary Clinton claimed she can't be an establishment candidate simply because she's a woman, running to be the first woman president. That didn't sit well with some young female voters. Jenna Lifhits of the Washington Free Beacon:
Young Women in NH ‘Offended’ Clinton Using Gender as Political Tool Young women in New Hampshire were offended by the way Hillary Clinton uses her gender to garner support, an MSNBC survey revealed Friday. When MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall asked young female voters about Hillary Clinton’s claim on Wednesday that she is not an establishment candidate because she is a woman, they responded negatively.

There is an old adage that bad things come in threes. Today, there are three omens showing that Hillary Clinton's campaign may be floundering worse than previously imagined. We have covered two of those signs already: Donors wanting to Draft Vice President Joe Biden for the party's nomination and Gloria Steinem indicating women who vote for Senator Bernie Sanders are actually after men. Unexpectedly, that last bit is not playing too terribly well among progressive women.

Although she appears to be supporting Hillary this election cycle as she did in 2008, Gloria Steinem endorsed Bernie Sanders in 1996, calling him an "honorary woman."  This is a common, if bizarre, tactic used by progressives to include whites, particularly white males, in their isolated, divisive little groupings of human beings (remember Toni Morrison calling Bill Clinton the "first black president"?).  This works in reverse, too, as we see with attacks on black, female, Hispanic, etc. conservatives:  they aren't "authentic" black people, women, Hispanics, etc. In an interview with Bill Maher, Steinem—a purported feminist and icon among some on the feminist left—has found a new and exciting way to diminish women who don't think as she does:  she explains that the support of young women for Bernie is actually rooted in their desire to attract boys. She argues that Bernie's female supporters are boy crazy and appears to be doing so as a means of demeaning these women.  They're just silly little girls who aren't clever enough to understand politics and are only interested in his candidacy because "that's where the boys are."  Clearly, if they had more sense, they'd support Hillary as she does. Watch:

As the child of two very public figures, Chelsea Clinton has enjoyed a certain amount of respect from the political media but now she's acting as a surrogate for her mother's campaign. That changes things, as Professor Jacobson noted in a recent post. A new column from Jack Shafer of Politico echoes that sentiment:
Time for Chelsea Clinton's Easy Ride to End When precisely did Chelsea Clinton complete her transition from a White House kid whom journalists agreed to treat as off-limits to a public figure deserving of the full scrutiny of the press corps?

Now that Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton split the vote in Iowa and are essentially tied in some polls, nervous Democrats are starting to think another old, white person might be able to save the day. Reuters reports:
Democratic donor contacts Biden allies about possible run A prominent Democratic donor worried about the party's chances of winning the presidency emailed dozens of fans of Vice President Joe Biden on Friday, urging them to remain prepared to donate if Biden jumps into the race. The donor, Bill Bartmann, cited new polling showing Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont nearly tied with the Hillary Clinton, eroding the 30-point lead the former secretary of state held at the end of last year. Bartmann and other party insiders are concerned that Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is too far to the left to win against a Republican in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Thursday, The Des Moines Register's Editorial Board called for an audit of Iowa's Democratic Caucus results.
...too many questions have been raised. Too many accounts have arisen of inconsistent counts, untrained and overwhelmed volunteers, confused voters, cramped precinct locations, a lack of voter registration forms and other problems. Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night’s chaos.
Hillary Clinton was declared the winner with a minuscule two-tenths of 1% victory over Bernie Sanders and some incredibly lucky coin tossing. Because Iowa's Democratic Party chair has refused to audit the caucus results. Bernie Sanders' campaign is doing their part to recount the ballots. Friday, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian reports that the Iowa Democratic Party changed the altered a precinct's caucus results, giving a Sanders delegate to Clinton.

Welcome to our live coverage of tonight's Democratic presidential debate. The debate begins at 9:00 PM ET on MSNBC and will be moderated by NBC's Chuck Todd and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. With Martin O'Malley out of the race, the Democratic presidential primary is officially a showdown. Just saying'...

How to watch the debate: