OPINION:
The outcome of Tuesday’s 2024 presidential primaries adds fresh confirmation that New Hampshire’s state motto is befitting: “Live free or die.” The wide-open path to the White House has narrowed amid the swirling snow of New England in winter, even though the grueling race has only just begun.
Former President Donald Trump broke free from the remnants of his Republican competitors with a dominant 55% of the vote, built upon his 30-point victory in Iowa last week. Only former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s bid for the White House maintains a heartbeat after the primary in the Granite State, where she collected 43% of the Republican vote.
Mr. Trump’s winning result was not entirely unexpected: In pre-primary RealClearPolitics polling, his 56% support put him comfortably ahead of Ms. Haley. Sensing the inevitable, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis preemptively killed his struggling campaign on Sunday before the first vote was cast.
Next up is Nevada, which is in a state of utter confusion: Republicans are holding both a primary and a caucus. Consequently, Ms. Haley’s name appears on the Silver State’s Feb. 6 GOP primary ballot while Mr. Trump has opted instead to compete in the Silver State’s Feb. 8 caucus. The former U.N. ambassador is rolling the dice by opting to compete in the primary: The winner may harvest a bump in national polls, but only the caucus winner is awarded all-important delegates for the Republican National Convention in July.
Then it’s on to Ms. Haley’s home state of South Carolina, where she has the best chance of breathing new life into her efforts to derail the speeding Trump train. She will need all of her dazzling smile — if not her six-year record as governor — to chip away at Mr. Trump’s 30-point statewide advantage heading toward the Feb. 24 primary.
As for Democrats, their handling of New Hampshire put them in the middle of a new war between the states. After South Carolina revived then-candidate Joe Biden’s faltering 2020 campaign, the Democratic National Committee stripped New Hampshire of its traditional role as host for the party’s first-in-the-nation primary and transferred the honor to the Palmetto State. To reinforce its move, the party deleted President Biden’s name from the New Hampshire primary ballot, rendering the outcome there meaningless.
Granite State Democrats would not have been far off the mark to regard the move as a form of voter suppression — the party’s signature accusation against Republicans. Appalled, state Democrats staged a sort of intraparty insurrection of their own, launching a guerrilla campaign to write in Mr. Biden’s name regardless, demonstrating loyalty to his liberal brand.
Subsequently, the president received 54.8% of the irrelevant Democratic vote in New Hampshire. Among other Democratic contenders, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota finished with nearly 20%, and spiritualist Marianne Williamson garnered a smattering of ballots.
In Mr. Trump, Republicans have a political commando whose intrepid forays against the deep state have critics yearning for his incarceration before Election Day. In Mr. Biden, Democrats are reluctantly uniting around a superannuated leader with questionable mental acuity.
In a political season like no other, the ultimate White House winner must beat a snowball’s chance.
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