The first half of February has seen political tension brewing in the form of the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary. After the debacle of the Democratic Iowa Caucus a lot of pressure was riding on the Democrats to have a smooth ride in New Hampshire and for the most part they did. Bernie Sanders saw a clear win to solidify his lead after his tie in Iowa followed closely by Pete Buttigieg. Behind them came Amy Kloubachar and Elizabeth Warren switching positions in this second race and trailing behind was Joe Biden. 

Last week also saw the dropping out of Anedrew Yang who performed poorly in both primaries and stated that his showing in both states was indicative of the fact that he did not have a chance to win the election. Receiving no delegates in either state, Yang announced the suspension of his campaign soon after New Hampshire. Yang had been popular with the younger generation as well as the Asian-American community eager to find representation in someone who was level headed and unafraid to address issues of gender and race. 

Many members of the so called Yang Gang expressed that they had voted for Bernie Sanders in 2016 and the end of Yangs campaign will likely see a small influx in Bernie supporters as the race goes on. Unfortunately, the impact of Yang dropping out will likely be insignificant in that his supporter group was passionate but small.

Next up will be the Nevada Caucuses which could be a jumping point for candidates Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders as they battle it out for the top position. Sanders seems to have pulled solidly ahead based on the current result but media criticism has been looking for any excuse to bring him down. Belittling his success by saying that he did not perform as well as he did in 2016 despite the fact that there is a significantly higher number of candidates than there were in that election. Meanwhile Pete Buttigieg has maintained a calm head and held up his extremely slim victory in Iowa as proof of his competence and competitiveness, eager to prove that he is still in this fight.