The GOP Establishment's Bloodbath In New Hampshire
Henniker, New Hampshire (CNN)When Marco Rubio blazed out of Iowa riding high on his surprisingly strong third-place finish, one thing immediately became clear: He was heading into the New Hampshire primary with a target on his back.
The race is still three days away. Donald Trump still tops the polls here, holding an 11-point lead over Rubio in a CNN/WMUR poll released Thursday. But as the candidates race around the state on the final weekend of campaigning -- some 30% of likely GOP primary voters remain undecided. And interviews with voters here suggest that this is still a remarkably fluid race.
For weeks now, Trump's rivalry with Ted Cruz has dominated the presidential race, but the spotlight in New Hampshire is on the heated battle in the establishment lane between Rubio, John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie. That dynamic will likely unfold on stage Saturday night at the ABC Republican presidential debate.
Trump may be capturing the attention of many first-time voters, but those four mainstream candidates have always been a better ideological fit for the state's more moderate GOP voters, as well as the large bloc of independents, who could have an outsized influence on Tuesday's results.
For months, Rubio, Bush, Kasich and Christie have labored in Trump's shadow, struggling to gain a foothold in this famously mercurial state. But Iowa's results have scrambled the 2016 race in unexpected ways. Rubio is clearly rising in the polls, but many voters here say they are still eyeing the other three "establishment" candidates. And that competition means that arrows are slinging in all directions.
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http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/06/politics/new-hampshire-primary-republican-establishment/
