Presidential candidates awoke on Wednesday morning and set their sights on South Carolina and beyond while still absorbing the results from a New Hampshire primary election that added credibility to the surprisingly powerful movements behind Donald J. Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.  Both the Democratic and Republican results largely reflected polling predictions in New Hampshire, though the magnitude of Mr. Sanders’s victory leaves him with more momentum than anticipated as he heads to some potentially tougher contests. The tight race for second place on the Republican side, with a pack of candidates trailing Mr. Trump, has left that battle more muddled than before.  But Tuesday’s voting had some immediate ripples in thinning the field of Republicans. After a sixth-place finish in New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has told allies that he plans to suspend his campaign, according to two people briefed on his intentions, and is meeting with his staff on Wednesday to discuss the decision. And Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard, announced that she was suspending her campaign after coming in seventh.  The remaining candidates were grappling with how to frame the next phase of the campaign as many of them headed to South Carolina for rallies. While Republicans mulled new ways to slow Mr. Trump, Hillary Clinton’s campaign continued to face questions about how she could lose by nearly 22 percentage points to Mr. Sanders, a 74-year-old socialist. Mr. Sanders, hoping to improve his standing with African-Americans, traveled to New York City and met with the Rev. Al Sharpton.  Two days after spewing a profanity at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Mr. Trump struck a more presidential tone. In an interview with NBC, he said that his opponents were all impressive and accomplished people and hinted that he would temper his bombastic behavior as the nomination nears.  “As you get closer, you act a little bit differently,” Mr. Trump said on the “Today” show on NBC.  The intensity of the campaign could soon be different for Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who finished second in New Hampshire behind Mr. Trump. Mr. Kasich has sought to be a happy warrior thus far, but he made it clear that he was ready to fight against what were expected to be sharp attacks.  Live coverage and analysis following the primary.  “I know we can’t just go through this like falling off a turnip truck and say everything is going to be positive,” Mr. Kasich said on CNN on Wednesday morning. “Because we’re going to have to respond to some of this stuff.”  He demonstrated that tougher approach by taking a jab at Jeb Bush, who he said had spent millions of dollars trying to take him down, as the battle heads to South Carolina, where Mr. Bush has invested heavily.  “I think they’ve spent about $120 million and they’ve got like four delegates,” Mr. Kasich said in a separate interview on “Good Morning America” on ABC. “I mean they got blown out in Iowa and they did poorly in New Hampshire.” Mr. Bush came in fourth place in New Hampshire, narrowly behind Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.  The pressure has already ramped up for Senator Marco Rubio, whose campaign is reeling after a disappointing fifth-place finish in New Hampshire. Once ascendant after a strong showing in Iowa, he did not deny that a poor debate performance on Saturday had bruised him — with people dressed as robots trailing him in New Hampshire after he was assailed for an overly scripted performance.  “It’s on me and it’s not going to happen again,” Mr. Rubio said on Fox News, echoing the sentiment he expressed the night before.  The Florida senator appeared optimistic that he could still secure the Republican nomination and he telegraphed a new response that he will use if his opponents continue to paint him as a preprogrammed candidate.  “It’s silly, because all these guys repeat things over and over again,” Mr. Rubio said. “All these guys, I could give you five lines they say every single day.”  While a lot can happen between now and the Republicans’ primary on Feb. 20 in South Carolina, it was obvious on Wednesday that Mr. Trump was being viewed with a new sense of alarm and that his rivals were preparing to go after him with fresh urgency. The Democratic primary is on Feb. 27.  Mr. Bush, who proclaimed on Tuesday night that his campaign was not dead, said on Wednesday that being the Republican who was willing to stand up to Mr. Trump would be central to his strategy.  “I know that when you go against Donald Trump, he gets upset and starts tweeting, you know, a firestorm of insults,” Mr. Bush said on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. “But to show my steadiness and to show his lack of steadiness is part of the process over the next 10 days.”
Heading to the South Carolina primaries, the Republican race for second was still out of focus and the Democratic race was likely to toughen for Mr. Sanders.