MANCHESTER, N.H. — Frustrated by the margin of Hillary Clinton’s 22-point blowout loss to Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire’s primary, the Democratic establishment had advice for her the day after: Overhaul the messaging aimed at young voters and women, and start realizing the Vermont senator is a true threat to win the nomination.

Interviews with close to twenty donors, superdelegates, elected officials and strategists revealed that many were caught off guard by the scope of Clinton’s defeat Tuesday – they were under the impression the race was tightening.


“Do they not understand what is happening? Do they not understand what a big problem they have with young voters and women?,” said one exasperated national Democratic strategist who is not working for either candidate, explaining that none of the messages Clinton has tried out since launching her campaign in April — including the current “Fighting For You” — have come close to working with those groups.

Most continue to believe Clinton is still on track to win the nomination and they think the March election calendar works in her favor thanks to its emphasis on larger and more diverse states. But their patience was worn thin by the Iowa and New Hampshire results, leading many to point to the Nevada and South Carolina contests as absolute must-wins for Clinton — and must-win-comfortably — if she hopes to avert a full-on stampede of second-guessing and Joe Biden- and Elizabeth Warren-envy.

"Not to be critical, but I wish they’d modulate the campaign a little and focus on her principle strengths. Her tenacity, the fact that she’s a fighter who’s always taken on powerful interests and generally won. This focus on the softer side of Hillary Clinton is not a strategy I agree with,” said former Gov. Jim Hodges, the last Democrat to be elected to that seat in South Carolina and a Clinton supporter. “They need to get to the heart of what this is about."

Clinton’s messaging was at the heart of the grumbling in the wake of a primary where she lost across a range of demographic groups. Concerns and private whispers about the absence of a single compelling message are coming even from some of her most loyal supporters — some of whom see 2008-style trouble brewing if she can’t right the ship with voters under 30 or women.



Losing the former by more than 65 percentage points in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and dropping the latter by 10 points in New Hampshire, are fire-engine-red flags about her viability in both the Democratic primary and the general election, say allies who are veterans of national campaigns.

“Her campaign is tone-deaf,” complained one increasingly skeptical super delegate backing Clinton. “In an election where inequality and privilege is the theme on the Democratic side, she comes across as the candidate of the establishment. She summered in the Hamptons in August? Come on!"

Aside from chipping away at those numbers, said a handful of prominent party members, Clinton needs to face the reality that the race against Sanders is increasingly looking like it will last into the summer — perhaps until the Democratic National Convention in July — thanks largely to his online fundraising prowess. The Vermont senator pulled in $5.2 million in the 18 hours after polls closed in New Hampshire, his campaign said on Wednesday.

To many, the troubling prospect of a drawn-out primary season warrants a serious retooling, not just of the message but also of the campaign apparatus.

“We have a very competitive race and Bernie has successfully exposed and exploited some weaknesses in the Clinton campaign. How do they respond? The Clinton campaign can’t keep doing what they’re doing and expect to win at this point. They have to make structural changes,” added Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist who runs the New Democrat Network and who worked for Bill Clinton in New Hampshire in 1992.

POLITICO reported Monday that Bill and Hillary Clinton were considering staffing and strategy changes in advance of Tuesday’s expected defeat, and that there were disagreements with Joel Benenson, the chief strategist and pollster who also worked for Barack Obama. While the Clinton camp has not announced any staffing moves yet, donors and high-profile allies were chattering about potential additions to the communications and digital teams as early as Wednesday morning, throwing around names of staffers from Obama's two campaigns as potential additions to help with messaging and youth outreach.

In the eyes of many Democrats, Clinton’s first step should be to explicitly distance herself from the political status quo that Sanders rails against in his stump speeches -- and that has become a centerpiece of GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s appeal. Clinton needs to make that pivot before Nevada’s Feb. 20 caucus, said multiple party leaders, in order to avoid a Sanders surge — and a barrage of negative coverage in the event of a loss or a nail-biter.



“I know [Sanders] well. He’s a relentless politician, he’s very focused and very bright. I don’t think he will win the nomination, but I think he could,” said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Clinton backer and a 2004 presidential candidate himself, who added that he thought Sanders’ presence in the race has made Clinton a better candidate. “I think Bernie wants to take this all the way to the convention. He’s very much a message candidate."

Accordingly, Clinton surrogates have doubled down on spreading the notion that liberal and white Iowa and New Hampshire were ideal states for Sanders, who on Wednesday intensified his effort to court African-American voters with a Harlem breakfast with Al Sharpton. The Clinton campaign, however, was ready this time with forceful counter-programming, including a conference call with prominent African-Americans who questioned Sanders’ commitment to issue of concern to the black community. On Thursday, Clinton will roll out the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC at an event in Washington.

More than anything else, numerous Democrats agreed, Clinton can’t afford the perception that she’s sinking any deeper, in part due to the sky-high expectations that were set for her at the outset of her campaign. As long as there are signs of a swift course correction, the level of establishment panic will remain manageable.

“I didn’t lose sleep over last night. Seventy percent of the voters were liberal or very liberal,” said former UBS executive Robert Wolf, a Clinton-backing Democratic donor who is close with President Barack Obama. “I’m not looking at it lightly. Bernie ran a great campaign. But there are still 48 states left."

Annie Karni contributed to this report.