Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders powered to victory in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, avenging their Iowa losses to keep the mad scramble of the 2016 presidential campaign alive with dozens of contests to come.

A knot of Republicans fought it out for second, an important perch as the campaign goes national, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich breaking through ahead of Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Iowa winner Ted Cruz.

It was a disappointing night both for Rubio and his tormentor in the latest Republican debate, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

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Sanders, the independent socialist senator challenging Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, and Trump, the political neophyte and provocateur of the Republican race, tapped New Hampshire's occasional indulgence in political insurgencies to prevail in the nation's second contest for the nomination.

Together they are would-be slayers of the political establishment, and a loss for either one would have been potentially devastating to their hopes.

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HOW SANDERS WON

Sanders attracted a broad coalition of New Hampshire voters, gathering a majority of votes from men, independents and voters under 45, as well as a slim majority of women, according to early exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and the television networks

The polls found that Clinton won the majority of those over 65 and those with incomes over $200,000 a year. The age gap first seen in Iowa, where younger voters backed Sanders and older ones, Clinton, appeared to be replicated to some extent in New Hampshire.

After conceding to Sanders, Clinton said she knows she has "some work to do, particularly with young people."

The exit polls also suggested Clinton has a struggle being trusted and relating to average people.

Nearly half who voted in the Democratic primary said that between Sanders and Clinton, they thought only Sanders is honest and trustworthy. And just over 10 percent said that between the two, only Clinton shares their values.

Clinton fell far short in New Hampshire after an unsatisfying hair's-breadth win in Iowa.

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HOW TRUMP WON

Trump capitalized on disaffection and outright anger with Washington, which was more pronounced in the Republican race, the exit polls found. He drew both from conservative and moderate Republicans.

His hardline positions on immigration and national security appeared to help him as well.

Although nearly 6 in 10 Republicans said they supported giving immigrants in the U.S. illegally the opportunity to apply for legal status, a large minority didn't — and two-thirds of Republican voters backed Trump's contentious position that non-citizen Muslims should be temporarily barred from entering the country.

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THE MAINSTREAMERS

Rubio, Kasich, Bush and Christie struggled over who could consolidate the support of moderate or establishment-minded Republicans. Kasich finished second behind Trump, but questions persist about his ability to run a national campaign.

Until his famously flustered debate performance — at Christie's hands — Rubio was seen as the man on the move, with a strong chance to outdistance rivals other than Trump. That didn't happen.

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THE EXCITEMENT FACTOR

Sanders and Trump had it, Clinton and most Republicans didn't.

Gail Malliaros-Golec, 64, of Pelham, a Trump volunteer for months, said she knew things were going well when she saw the reaction at the poll site where she was helping out.

When cars were pulling in, she said, people of all ages were "honking horns and thumbs up. People just almost causing accidents. Seriously."

She went on: "It was like a drug, seriously. People were just so excited."

For Sanders, the large, passionate rallies of many months finally paid off.

Cait McKay, 29, of Manchester backed Sanders because he's committed to "building a better society for everyone" and "he's not taking the negative ads or the negative stabs at everyone."

"I've seen so much from so many people," she said. "I'm excited about the turnout. I'm excited about my candidate."

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CAMPAIGN IN TRANSITION

The close-up campaigning in coffee shops and gyms in far-flung snowy expanses shifts now to bigger states, where those who come out of New Hampshire intact will need the advertising muscle and organizational strength to score big, fast and increasingly at a national level.

What's next?

Time to trade in those boots and head south and west. After Sen. Bernie Sanders and businessman Donald Trump cruised to victory in snowy New Hampshire, the presidential race sprints on to South Carolina and Nevada — perhaps with a smaller cast of characters.

A guide to what to watch for on Wednesday, the day after New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary:

DEPARTURE LOUNGE: Iowa turned out to be the end of the line for four candidates: Republican Mike Huckabee and Democrat Martin O'Malley had dropped out by midnight on caucus night, and Rand Paul and Rick Santorum weren't far behind. Additional Republican candidates could well head for the exits after New Hampshire. The state was seen as particularly important for Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, who did not finish in the top two.

CHA-CHING: Look for a surge in campaign cash for those with strong finishes. Bernie Sanders, who finished a close second to Clinton in Iowa, had his best fundraising day of the race after the Iowa caucuses. Cruz, too, had a post-Iowa bonanza. Now it may be John Kasich's turn. "We have a lot of people who have been promising money if we perform," said Tom Rath, a senior national adviser to the Ohio governor, who finished second among Republicans. "Tonight, we performed."

CREATIVE WRITING: Candidate Bill Clinton masterfully framed his second-place finish in New Hampshire in 1992 as a big victory for the "Comeback Kid." Look for the 2016 runners-up in New Hampshire — notably Kasich — to use similar creative writing techniques to try to put a happy spin on lesser vote tallies.

NEW HAMPSHIRE HANGOVER? Plenty of Republicans kvetched after Iowa. Ben Carson complained that false rumors that he was quitting the race, spread by Ted Cruz's campaign, had cost him support. Donald Trump agreed, and claimed he might have beaten Cruz otherwise. Who will harrumph after New Hampshire?

PILING ON: Lower-finishing GOP candidates can be expected to gang up on the New Hampshire success stories. That's what happened to the GOP's Marco Rubio after he exceeded expectations with a strong third-place finish in Iowa.

WHERE NEXT? South Carolina and Nevada are coming up in the next two weeks. Republican candidates were bound Wednesday for South Carolina, which holds its GOP primary Feb. 20, and Democrats to Nevada ahead of that state's Democratic caucus the same day. Those two states offer candidates their first opportunities to compete for a large and diverse electorate. But first, Sanders' heads to New York City, where he plans to have breakfast with the Rev. Al Sharpton.

AD NAUSEAM: The presidential hopefuls and their supporters already are planning to spend $35 million in South Carolina and $7 million in Nevada on TV and radio commercials, amounts that will rise significantly as voting approaches. Big spenders in South Carolina so far are Rubio and his allies, Cruz and his supporters and a super PAC backing Bush, advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG shows. Trump also burst back onto TV there beginning Tuesday.

ENDORSEMENTS: More will pop after New Hampshire. The Republicans who hang in there will try to snag endorsements from those who bug out. And others may weigh in. Among them: The Congressional Black Caucus political action committee promised to make its endorsement after New Hampshire. Republicans are wondering if South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will pick a favorite.