Can New Hampshire's political class save Clinton?

The establishment still hasn’t saved Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. You wouldn’t know it based on her repeated reminders that she’s polling about 20 points behind Bernie Sanders in this first-in-the-nation voting state — or on her exhortations that she’s no establishment candidate — but the former secretary of state, senator and first lady has nearly the entire roster of the state’s high-profile Democratic leaders on her side, from the governor on down.
Political muscle-flexing displays like the one here at the state party’s dinner on Friday night just hours after Clinton appeared at yet another rally with leading Democratic women like New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, haven’t helped her catch up to the underdog Vermont senator with just days left in the primary contest, in which she’s trailing badly.
A big loss in New Hampshire, coming on the heels of Clinton’s skin-of-her-teeth win in Iowa, could set off a fresh round of Democratic freakouts about her candidacy, particularly as national polls show the primary race tightening across the board. The expectations game is especially tricky for Clinton here, given the depth and breath of her establishment support.
As thousands of Clinton’s and Sanders’ backers packed into the Verizon Wireless Arena here, straining to drown each other out with cheers and thunder-stick claps, the candidates each made their cases and showcased the differences in their supporters — with Sanders kicking off the main event by thanking both sides of the arena for spending “considerable amounts of time and energy trying to make this country a better place in which to live and work” before launching into his usual stem winder against the “billionaire class” and the “rigged” economy.“What leadership is about is not just swimming with the current, it’s not just coming aboard ideas when there is a majority support for those ideas,” he said to raucous cheers from his corner, ticking through his by-now familiar list of issues where he’s disagreed with Clinton – trade deals, Wall Street regulation, Iraq.
Both campaigns turned out in force, plastering the blocks surrounding the cavernous arena with organizers, signs, and memorabilia. But Clinton, who spoke last, also brought along a phalanx of her most prominent supporters, including equal-pay activist Lilly Led better, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.And after Sanders spoke, as his supporters streamed out into the frigid Manchester evening, the state's top two Democrats — Hassan and Shaheen — spoke, each plugging their preferred candidate: Clinton.
Early in her own address, Clinton nodded to the deluge of support she’s received from elected officials and political leaders, but reminded the crowd that she is fighting for them, too.“In addition to these well-known people who support me, who have been truly at my back and by my side, there have been so many others,” she said, naming campaign volunteers and their backstories. “Like Ava, an overachieving high school...





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