“This is harming his fundraising ability, it’s harming his ability to really put it into a fast, full-gear and build off of this argument that he should be the nominee,” said Scott Spradling, the former political director of WMUR-TV, the state’s leading political news source. “That's where he is wounded. I'm not sure it really hurts Sanders as much.”

That’s because Sanders’ behemoth campaign machine has 150 staffers on the ground, about three times that of any other candidate in the top-tier. The campaign boasts it has more than 10,000 active volunteers willing to make phone calls and knock on doors. While the campaign has gone to great lengths not to talk about it, Sanders has started hiring paid field staffers to bolster their volunteer efforts. The majority of other campaigns only use volunteers and see paying people to do that type work as a faux pas in a state where voters consistently ask candidates how they plan to get money out of politics.

Meanwhile, of the last dozen polls, Sanders placed first in all of them, leading by double digits in two of the last three.

Supporters of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who hoped a surprise top-three placement in Iowa would earn her a second look from New Hampshire, thought the delayed reporting of results hurt her. Andrew Hosmer, the newly-elected mayor of Laconia, a bellwether city where Buttigieg held a rally on Tuesday night, said New Hampshire provided a clean slate for candidates who underperformed in Iowa.

“You saw a Vice President Biden and his team sort of downplaying expectations there, which is, I don't know, not a particularly good sign on the eve of the caucus but now you don't have to worry about perhaps justifying poor numbers coming out of Iowa,” he said. “It hurts some folks — Klobuchar would have overperformed and would come in with a bounce.”

Klobuchar’s success could also depend on how well Biden plays here. The former vice president's schedule for the upcoming week is noticeable lighter than other candidates, as he has flatly said he does not need to win the state. He remains the national frontrunner and the campaign has long expected a significant victory in the South Carolina primary, just over two weeks after New Hampshire.