NH primary results were expected but still surprising

Donald Trump now can say he has won his first election of sorts, and Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, proclaimed Democratic-Socialist, can say he’s an outsider who walloped the ultimate insider, Hillary Clinton, the still-likely 2016 presidential nominee of the Democrats. Both victories in the New Hampshire primaries were expected and hardly guarantee anything to anyone.

But New Hampshire can be a motivator for those who don’t win: Clinton likely will try harder to appeal to the hard-core, liberal Democratic base that admires Sanders for his criticism of big-money politics. Sanders has tapped a vein here, and there can be no denying it, not in view of the large crowds he draws wherever he goes.

Trump was expected to win, but he thrashed his Republican opponents, 2-1 over second-place finisher John Kasich, governor of Ohio. The Republican race has gotten more interesting, and the rise of Kasich, the pragmatic governor who’s as close to mainstream as the Republicans get these days, may signal the GOP’s move toward a candidate who can win, and govern, rather than a fire-breather such as Ted Cruz or an ideologue short on credentials such as Marco Rubio.

Trump, who has connected with a campaign theme fueled by anger, may hold, but Kasich and Jeb Bush appear to be moving up.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 9:16 PM with the headline "NH primary results were expected but still surprising."