For those just catching up - or for those who wisely decided to stream Master Chef Junior instead of watching New Hampshire election returns - a quick breakdown of the winners, losers and really big losers of the Granite State’s unforgiving primaries.  The real estate tycoon proved that his sky-high polling numbers can actually translate into votes with a double-digit win in the New Hampshire primaries. As long as the rest of the Republican field remains crowded with establishment infighting, the pro-Trump vote will outflank his opposition with ease.  He may have defied expectations in the Iowa caucuses with his almost-second finish, raising hopes for a candidate who could at long last consolidate the support of mainstream Republicans, but he lost the expectations game in a big way last night after a debate performance that left people looking for Rubio’s reboot button.  The Vermont senator was always going to be formidable in neighboring New Hampshire, where the self-declared democratic socialist has been a ubiquitous presence in the state’s shared media market for years. But in beating Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points in a state that has a long history of accommodating downtrodden members of the Clinton clan - and doing so among every demographic of import - showed skeptical politicos that his populist message inspires more than hashtags: It inspires action.  The former secretary of state not only lost by a massive margin in the state that saved her candidacy in 2008 - she lost the demographic battles that matter most to aspiring Democratic presidential candidates. If young people, liberals, moderates, women and those who make less than $200,000 aren’t voting for a candidate, that candidate’s “inevitability” argument starts to look shaky.  Or, at least, winner-ish. The moderate Ohio governor bet his political life on the plan that moderate New Hampshire Republicans and independents would take to a gruff, straight-talking Rust Belt executive. But Kasich’s success may represent a Pyrrhic victory for the so-called “establishment” wing of the Republican field - if the moderate vote continues to be divided, Solomon-style, between four candidates, it becomes that much easier for far-right candidates to march towards the convention unimpeded.  The son-of-a-former-president, brother-of-another-former-president spent a king’s ransom in New Hampshire, and it wasn’t in hopes of a fourth-place finish in a state his family might as well own. He’ll survive - he’s still got an entire Smaug cave of super PAC money to spend - but if voters didn’t like him in New Hampshire, they’ll loathe him in South Carolina.  Moderate, secular New Hampshire was never going to be Cruz Country - but his respectable third-place finish is sandwiched between a win in the Iowa caucuses and the upcoming evangelical-filled South Carolina primaries, where this son of a preacher man will be able to hold court with ease - and without mis-naming 2 Corinthians.  The New Jersey governor’s kamikaze attack on Rubio in the final Republican debate ahead of the New Hampshire primaries may have deflated the Florida senator, but Rubio’s loss wasn’t Christie’s gain. As Cady Heron once said, “Calling somebody else fat won’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn’t make you any smarter. And ruining Marco Rubio’s life definitely didn’t make Chris Christie any happier.”  The flash has gone from the pan in the unlikely campaign of this former Hewlett-Packard executive’s presidential campaign. With no presidential debate invitations forthcoming, Fiorina’s singular strength - her ability to spin mendacity into debate gold - has been taken from her.  The former pediatric neurosurgeon’s long march into obscurity continues unabated, with less than two percent of New Hampshire voters pulling the lever for the man who admitted that foreign policy isn’t his strongest suit.
Follow our live coverage of the fallout after victories for the insurgents in the New Hampshire primary, as Sanders travels to New York to meet Al Sharpton