Bernie Sanders hopes New Hampshire primary will tighten his early grip on the 2020 Democratic race
Joe Raczka and Adam Coughlin, managing partners at Manchester-based investment and advisory firm York.ie, said lower rent and cost of living — relative to New York or even Boston — have helped to drive growth in the city. The firm has invested in seven companies, mostly on the East Coast, and advised other businesses since its founding in September.
Raczka, Coughlin and their partner Kyle York all previously worked at Manchester-based Dyn, which Oracle acquired in 2016. Raczka pointed to “positive trends” in the state, including a “good mix of businesses and an up-and-coming tech scene.”
The ease of working remotely, Coughlin adds, plays to New Hampshire’s “geographic advantages that aren’t easily replicable — it’s hard to make lakes and mountains.”
Beyond New Hampshire, voters appear satisfied with the economy about nine months before the election. Seven-in-10 voters describe the economy as “excellent” or “good,” according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday. The figure is just shy of the highest tracked by the pollster.
Despite this, voters have flocked even more in recent weeks to Sanders’ push to rein in corporate excesses, boost wages and labor rights and reduce health costs. The Quinnipiac survey found Sanders leading the primary field among Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents nationally with 25% of support. Biden followed him at 17%.
The poll showed Sanders leading Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup by a 51% to 43% margin.
Biden’s stumbles have started to undercut the former vice president’s core campaign argument: that he is the Democrat best equipped to beat Trump. The Sanders campaign began to play up its candidate’s ability to defeat the president more as nominating contests started this month in Iowa.
“Bernie beats Trump” signs hung from the stands in the SNHU Arena in Manchester on Saturday. The campaign also called its final gathering before primary day — a rally and concert featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and rock band The Strokes that drew more than 6,000 people, easily the most for a Democrat in New Hampshire — a “Bernie beats Trump” event.
Sanders spoke Monday just after Trump wrapped up his own rally in the state. Taking swipes at the president’s proposed federal budgets, which have included cuts to Medicaid and Social Security, and the 2017 Republican tax plan, which passed most benefits to the wealthy, Sanders laid out parts of the economic argument he will deploy if he wins the Democratic nomination.
“We are going to beat Donald Trump because our agenda speaks to the pain of the working families of this country,” Sanders said.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/11/new-hampshire-primary-sanders-buttigieg-battle-for-first.html