Bernie Sanders thrashed Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, an emphatic early triumph for a populist campaign long dismissed as an afterthought in the Democratic presidential primary.

The Vermont senator's dominant performance in his neighboring state could force Clinton's team to reassess its operations and solidify Sanders' candidacy as a serious threat for the nomination.


"The people of New Hampshire have sent a profound message to the political establishment, the economic establishment and by the way, to the media establishment," Sanders said in his victory speech. "What the people here have said is that given the enormous crises facing our country, it is just too late for the same-old, same-old establishment politics and establishment economics. The people want real change."

He warned his supporters that his win could augur an uglier phase of the race. “They are throwing everything at me but the kitchen sink, and I have a feeling that kitchen sink is coming soon," Sanders said.

With 93 percent of precincts reporting, Sanders led Clinton 60 percent to 38 percent. Sanders' senior strategist, Tad Devine, told POLITICO it “was, we believe, the biggest margin of victory in a contested Democratic primary in history."

Clinton sought to signal a new stage of her campaign as it looks to regroup for the March contests, which feature more diverse electorates that should aid her cause.

"It's not whether you get knocked down that matters, it's whether you get back up," she told supporters after calling Sanders to concede. She echoed many of Sanders' campaign themes — vowing to crack down on Wall Street, push for campaign finance reform and fight for women's rights, gay rights and workers' rights — but said that she could actually produce results.

“Now we take this campaign to the entire country," she declared. "We’re going to fight for every vote in every state. We’re going to fight for real solutions to make a difference in people’s lives.”

But the New Hampshire results were so convincing that the race was called as soon as the last polls in the state closed, and Sanders supporters were still making their way into Concord High School for his watch party. Cheers erupted and music blared when TVs showed him as the winner.

"Nine months ago, if you told somebody that we would win the New Hampshire primary, they would not have believed you," Sanders wrote in a fundraising appeal to supporters asking for $3 a pop. "Not at all. Too bold, they would have said. Not enough money to compete against the billionaires. You showed them tonight."

In her own message to supporters, Clinton wrote that she "[wished] tonight had gone differently."



"But I know what it's like to be knocked down -- and I've learned from long experience that it's not whether you get knocked down that matters. It's about whether you get back up," she wrote.

The Clinton campaign released a separate memo Tuesday evening mapping out the candidate's way forward.

"The nomination will very likely be won in March, not February, and we believe that Hillary Clinton is well positioned to build a strong – potentially insurmountable – delegate lead next month," campaign manager Robby Mook wrote in the memo, which touted the importance of next month and Super Tuesday in particular.

The campaign also emphasized Clinton's strength among Hispanic and African American voters, as well as her broader appeal beyond Iowa and New Hampshire.

"Additionally, as the campaign moves to states with a heavier presence of military personnel and veterans, Sen. Sanders should expect renewed questions about his foreign policy proposals and preparedness to be Commander-in-Chief," Mook wrote, also pointing to the campaign's "data-driven operation" to get out the vote in the months to come.

"We believe that Hillary’s unique level of strength among African Americans, Hispanics, women and working families of all backgrounds – combined with the most data-driven and targeted campaign ever waged – will net the delegates in March needed to put her on a clear path to the nomination," he wrote in the memo.

Exit poll data from NBC News suggested that 55 percent of primary voters had made up their mind before last month, while just 23 percent said they had waited until the last few days. CNN's exit poll data showed similar results.

Earlier Tuesday, Devine told MSNBC's "MTP Daily" that the margin of victory was important.

“Yes, I mean I think if we have a substantial victory, that will help us even more," he said, noting the importance of bringing in younger and independent voters."I think that’s an important case that we’d want to prove," he added.

Moments earlier, Mook told Chuck Todd that their operation is prepared for an "uphill climb" after Tuesday's primary.

Eight years ago, after a humbling third-place Iowa finish, Clinton staged a come-from-behind win in New Hampshire that rescued her campaign. This time, Clinton eked out a win in Iowa, but New Hampshire never looked nearly as kind to her.

For his part, Sanders achieved a bit of history with his victory, becoming the first Jewish candidate to win a primary, something that previous contenders such as Joe Lieberman, Arlen Specter and Milton Shapp were unable to achieve.

The high stakes for both sides in the first-in-the-nation primary have been on glaring display all week long.

In their first head-to-head debate last Thursday in Durham, New Hampshire, the two candidates dropped the comity of the first four debates for a bruising, two-hour rumble. In one memorable clash, Sanders attacked Clinton over her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs; Clinton responded that her rival was leveling a "very artful smear" of corruption against her: "Enough is enough," she admonished. "If you've got something to say, say it."

Since then, though, Clinton has been on the defensive. After being asked at the debate whether she would release transcripts of her paid speeches, at first she said that she would "look into" it, but then struck a less amenable tone. “Let everybody who’s ever given a speech to any private group under any circumstances release them,” Clinton told ABC. “We’ll all release them at the same time.”

Generational and gender tensions between the two candidates' supporters grew more pronounced over the weekend. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem declared to Bill Maher that young women are only supporting Sanders because "the boys are with Bernie," then later apologized. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Clinton surrogate, trotted out her maxim, "There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other." Sanders disavowed a group of supporters calling themselves "Berniebros," saying, "Anybody who is supporting me and doing sexist things, we don't want them."

Former President Bill Clinton got into the act, too, denouncing Sanders (without mentioning him by name) as "the champion of all things small and the enemy of all things big.”

Clinton had tried to tamp down expectations, saying some pundits have argued she would have been better off skipping the state. On Saturday, both candidates took brief detours from campaigning in the state: Clinton went to Flint, Michigan, to address the water crisis; Sanders traveled to New York City for a "Saturday Night Live" skit with his spot-on impersonator, Larry David.

Gabriel Debenedetti contributed reporting from Concord, New Hampshire.