As the 2020 Democrats descend upon New Hampshire, leaving behind the smouldering ruins of an Iowa caucus meltdown sown with confusion, former vice president Joe Biden is returning to a state that has helped end a presidential run of his before — and may very well do so once again.

While the results from Iowa have resulted in protests from candidates like Bernie Sanders and even Pete Buttigieg — who remain neck and neck in the still-incoming results there, both with apparent good reason to complain that the slow release of results has blunted their momentum — the same cannot be said for Mr Biden, who finished fourth with no chance at a last minute come-back.

And so, less than a year after he entered the 2020 race with a campaign video last April casting the race as one between just him and Donald Trump, followed by a massive and picturesque rally in Philadelphia and considerable press attention surrounding his inevitability, the former right hand man to Barack Obama finds himself left in the lurch by the party he has devoted the better part of his life to.

No longer is it just Trump vs Biden. Now it is Biden vs Buttigieg, and Biden vs Sanders, too. And Mr Biden is improbably the underdog, trailing in polls and fundraising, and forced to fight for the life of what would be his final presidential campaign, which he in turn has cast as a fight for the soul of America.

“I can’t sugarcoat it, we took a gut punch in Iowa,” Mr Biden told a New Hampshire crowd this week ahead of the state's primary on 11 February. “The whole system took a gut punch.”

Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Show all 18 1 /18 Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Jessica Canicosa, a precinct captain for Bernie Sanders, waits to greet caucus voters at Liberty High School in Henderson, Nevada REUTERS Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Hotel workers at the Bellagio in Las Vegas get to grips with voting papers during the Nevada caucuses AFP via Getty Images Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A caricature of Bernie Sanders is projected on to a tree during a rally in Las Vegas EPA Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A woman waits to have a photo taken with Elizabeth Warren during a town hall meeting in Las Vegas REUTERS Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures The threat of coronavirus and other germ-borne illnesses was on some voters' minds at the Democratic caucuses in Henderson, Nevada Getty Images Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Former vice-president Joe Biden takes a selfie with a voter in Las Vegas ahead of the Nevada caucuses REUTERS Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Amy Klobuchar changes her shoes backstage after giving a speech in Exeter, New Hampshire AFP/Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A warmly-wrapped-up dog attends an Elizabeth Warren event at Amherst Elementary School in Nashua, New Hampshire AFP/Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Bernie Sanders, who romped to victory in New Hampshire against Hillary Clinton in 2016, talks to the media in Manchester Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Joe Biden was hoping to improve on his poor showing in Iowa in the New Hampshire primary Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Elizabeth Warren, renowned for giving time to supporters for selfies, works the crowd at the University of New Hampshire in Durham Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Joe Biden takes a selfie with a supporter and his child outside a campaign event in Somersworth, New Hampshire on 5 February Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders quarrel after a confrontation in a TV debate in which Sanders claimed that Warren was not telling the truth about a conversation in which she claimed he had said a woman could not win the presidency on 14 January AP Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Supporter Pat Provencher listens to Pete Buttigieg in Laconia, New Hampshire on 4 February Getty Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire while awaiting the results of the Iowa caucus Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures Elizabeth Warren is presented with a balloon effigy of herself at a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire on 5 February Reuters Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A Trump supporter rides past a rally for Amy Klobuchar in Des Moines, Iowa on 14 January AP Democratic candidates compete on the campaign trail: In pictures A man holds up a sign criticising billionaires in the presidential race in front of Michael Bloomberg in Compton, Califronia. The former New York mayor skipped the first caucus in Iowa and instead campaigned in California on 3 February Reuters

For his part, Mr Biden has already said he doesn’t need to win the first presidential primary state in the nation. And he hasn’t been slyly making a big play for the state, either.

As Politico reports, Mr Biden’s campaign has spent relatively little in New Hampshire on ad buys, as he has instead focused on the next three states to vote before Super Tuesday next month. He also has a smaller campaign presence, and has barely taken questions from voters during campaign stops in the state.

But his campaign’s emphasis on his strength in states like South Carolina, which is one of those three following New Hampshire, has also come as Mr Biden has received a steady stream of criticism for what reporters see as him being less than available. And, he’s found himself the focus of some bad headlines in which he’s seemed to shout at voters who challenge him (notably, Mr Biden was caught recently getting physical with a supporter who asked him about oil pipelines).

And it’s on that final point that Mr Biden’s first run for president was, in-part, pilloried. At that time, in 1987, Mr Biden found himself being asked where he went to law school in Claremont, New Hampshire. And then, the then-senator responded on a somewhat Trumpian manner — “I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect” — before giving a misleading answer about his academic record that later added to a list of several scandals that ultimately led to his campaign, including allegations that he had plagiarised a speech by the then-British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock.

Now in his third presidential race, and a good deal older, Mr Biden finds himself behind the likes of Mr Buttigieg and Mr Sanders in polls in New Hampshire. He also fell behind senator Elizabeth Warren in Iowa, who received the third most votes.

Those two top candidates are riding into the state victorious, and with a fair amount of positive media at their backs.

New Hampshire is a state known to buck the results in Iowa, though, so perhaps Mr Biden’s hopes of the presidency aren’t dashed just yet. But now he’s punching up, not down.

“If Senator Sanders is the nominee for the party, every Democrat in America up and down the ballot, in blue states, red states, purple states, in easy districts and competitive ones, every Democrat will have to carry the label senator Sanders has chosen for himself,” Mr Biden said in New Hampshire this week, going on the offensive. “He calls him— and I don’t criticise him — he calls himself a democratic socialist. Well, we’re already seeing what Donald Trump is gonna do with that.”

As for Mr Buttigieg, Mr Biden is daring the South Bend mayor to continue to attack him, saying he’ll defend his record if he needs to, and hoping to align himself with Mr Obama even as the insurgent candidate has attempted to do the same: “Is he really saying the Obama-Biden administration was a failure? Pete, just say it out loud.”