New Hampshire primary underway

Bernie Sanders is 7 percentage points ahead of Pete Buttigieg heading into the nation’s first presidential primary, according to an average of statewide polls of Democrats. Voting in New Hampshire began at 6 a.m. EST on Tuesday, and polling places will begin to close at 7 p.m. The state has 24 Democratic delegates to dole out. President Donald Trump is expected to win the state’s Republican primary easily.

How are candidates distinguishing themselves? Sanders and Buttigieg are pursuing opposite flanks of the party after a near photo finish in last week’s Iowa caucuses. Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont, is competing against Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts for votes from the party’s left wing. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., is positioning himself as a moderate alongside former Vice President Joe Biden.

In a Democratic field defined by radical support for abortion, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota surprisingly differentiated herself at a rally on Monday. Attendee and former Susan B. Anthony List employee Chris Crawford said she told him there was room in the Democratic Party for pro-life voters and that she would work to find common ground in lowering abortion rates by encouraging adoption. Klobuchar lags well behind Sanders and Buttigieg in a virtual third-place tie with Warren and Biden in New Hampshire.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Stew about how Sanders has upset the Democratic establishment.