New Hampshire next in line after Trump's big win

ATKINSON, New Hampshire — After Donald Trump's record victory in the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire voters now get their turn to decide just how competitive the Republican nomination fight will be as the former president continues to dominate his party.

Trump was eager to flaunt his 30-point victory in Iowa a night earlier, as he stepped up the pressure on former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to improve on their distant finishes in the opening votes of the 2024 presidential election. They have a one-week sprint ahead of next Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire, the long-time host of the nation's first Republican presidential primary.

"Our country is dying. … And I stand before you today as the only candidate who is up to the task of saving America," Trump declared in Atkinson, on Tuesday.

New Hampshire's electorate is less religiously conservative and less rural than in Iowa, factors that helped Trump in the caucuses. If DeSantis and Haley cannot capitalize on those differences, they could watch Trump sustain momentum that would render the rest of the Republican primary calendar little more than a formality.

Haley, who has sought to build a wide coalition that includes independents, has put great emphasis on New Hampshire, hoping it becomes a springboard to her home state South Carolina primary next month. DeSantis, who has run more as a Trumpian conservative, put more stock in Iowa, so he now must regroup quickly for New Hampshire.

Severe winter weather already is altering campaign schedules and making their tasks harder. DeSantis' campaign had to cancel an afternoon event because of difficult travel conditions.

Trump began his day in New York appearing at a civil defamation trial stemming from a columnist's claims he sexually attacked her, but used his legal troubles, including four pending criminal cases against him, as part of his pitch, dismissing the indictments as a Joe Biden administration effort to derail his political comeback.

Kristen Mansharamani, an independent voter from Lincoln, New Hampshire, said she has never considered backing Trump this time and would back Haley.

"I told my 12-year-old son that I am looking for the person who I think is going to get rid of some of the standstill and the polarization in politics, and I think she can do that better than anyone else out there right now," the 48-year-old said.

Yet, Haley and DeSantis must contend with hardcore Republicans like Nancy Otovic, a 75-year-old retiree. "Our world is in a spiral, and he's going to help us," she said of Trump.

Agencies via Xinhua