Kamala Harris knows she would never win a presidential primary in the Democratic Party with last cycle’s nominating calendar. So, at the behest of the White House, party leaders changed it.
After struggling in New Hampshire throughout the summer of 2019, Harris was caught confiding in Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono that she was “f-cking moving to Iowa.” By November, the California senator had doubled down on her commitment to the Hawkeye state as her path to the Oval with a CBS News interview.
“I’m all in on Iowa,” she said. “I’m all in… I’m practically living in Iowa to do the work that is necessary.”
Harris dropped out of the race just a month later as her low poll numbers continued to sink.
Once caucus day arrived, President Joe Biden didn’t do well either. In fact, no candidate did well after the prize of publicity that usually follows victory in the first nominating contest was spoiled by turmoil over how the caucuses were conducted. By the time a conclusive winner was announced, the nation’s attention had already turned to New Hampshire.
The Biden campaign also struggled in the Granite State, where he placed a distant fifth behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, future Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
South Carolina was the site of the former vice president’s comeback. Biden’s first-place win by nearly 30 points over the next candidate was followed by a cascade of endorsements from former rivals
