On the eve of New Hampshire the Hillary campaign takes its biggest gamble: bringing in Bill to attack Bernie
Does the former President still hold much sway?
So we are almost there in what has in past White House races been the contest that has proved to be the most crucial – the first full primary in the New England State of New Hampshire.
While much of the attention has been on the Republicans there’s a battle royal going on in the Democratic primary where the 74 year old socialist Bernie Sanders has been enjoying double digit leads over Hillary Clinton.
On paper he looks a certainty but the Hillary campaign will remember 2008 when the final polls on the state had Obama up to 13.5% up but she won.
A big factor that makes it very challenging for the pollsters is that voters, including a huge block of independents, can choose whether to caste their votes in with the Democratic election or the Republican one.
There’s a long history of primary voters there making their minds up at the last minute.
Into this potentially explosive mix the Hillary campaign has deployed its final card which could backfire – her husband the former President. His speech attacked in part the sexist and misogynist nature of the Tweets from Sanders supporters – a move designed to boost to boost turnout amongst women.
The Twitter misogyny from some Sanders backers looks very similar to that which we saw from Corbyn supporters in the Labour leadership contest.
Whatever the Sanders polling numbers are strong and it is hard to see him not doing it. The big question will be the size of his winning margin.