Donald Trump looms over divided Democrats in New Hampshire, stoking anxiety as Bernie Sanders surges
At an evening town hall in Plymouth, long-shot Democratic candidate Michael Bennet is enthusiastic as he outlines what he would do if elected President of the United States.
Despite the late hour, steady snow outside and a university basketball game nearby, the small crowd is attentive as the Democratic senator from Colorado bemoans the lack of bipartisanship in Washington.
Conventional wisdom suggests Senator Bennet has the right resume to run for the highest office in the land.
He won two tough elections in a key state, and he's a middle-aged white man with middle-of-the-spectrum political views on key issues.
But few ordinary Americans have ever heard of him, and it seems even those who have aren't inclined to pick him as the Democratic presidential candidate for November's election.
"We need to nominate somebody … who can win in purple states in this country in order to beat Donald Trump," Senator Bennet told the ABC.
"It's an open question whether such a person can survive a Democratic primary. Those are two different questions," he adds with a laugh.
The future of Senator Bennet's race looks grim. In successive surveys, he's struggled to poll at much higher than 1 per cent.
Some of his backers seem disappointed with how things have gone so far.
But they're just as worried about the left-ward lurch of their party and the deeply divided state of the Democratic primary race.
In particular, they fear their chances of taking the White House could disappear, if self-described "Democratic socialist" Bernie Sanders wins tomorrow's primary in New Hampshire and surges on to snatch the nomination.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-11/bernie-sanders-surge-stresses-new-hampshire-voters/11952776
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