How 2020 took away the most important role of Iowa and New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, N.H. — It's possible — maybe even likely — that a single top-tier candidate won't drop out of the Democratic presidential race after tonight's primary here.

Even if he finishes fourth (again), Joe Biden can plausibly take his campaign to South Carolina, where he hopes African-American voters can save him. (Then again, yesterday's Quinnipiac poll showed Biden already losing altitude with African Americans.)

And even if she comes in fifth (again), Amy Klobuchar might have every incentive to keep trucking along. After all, her single delegate out of Iowa gets her a spot in the next Democratic debate in Las Vegas.

One explanation why the current field might stick around through Nevada and South Carolina is because the field already got winnowed — not by Iowa and New Hampshire, but instead by the DNC's debate-qualification process.

Those polling, fundraising and now delegate requirements took a gigantic field of 20-plus candidates and whittled it down to five major ones: Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Biden and Klobuchar.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/how-2020-took-away-the-most-important-role-of-iowa-and-new-hampshire/ar-BBZSPRW?ocid=msn360