Joe Biden: ‘We took a gut punch in Iowa’

SOMERSWORTH, N.H. — Joseph R. Biden on Wednesday acknowledged that his Democratic presidential campaign took a “gut punch” with his poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.

But he vowed to keep fighting for a comeback in the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We took a gut punch in Iowa,” Mr. Biden, a former vice president, told a crowd of about 150 people in a Veterans of Foreign Wars banquet hall.

He added that the entire caucus process in Iowa took a gut punch after a technical snafu delayed results. However, there was no escaping that the partial results so far show him finishing an embarrassing fourth-place in the nation’s kickoff caucuses.

“But look, this isn’t the first time in life I’ve been knocked down,” Mr. Biden said.

He vowed to keep fighting for the nomination in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and beyond.

“I know there are an awful lot of folks out there who are writing off this campaign. But I tell you what, they have been trying to do that from the moment I entered the race,” Mr. Biden said. “Well, I’ve got news for them. I’m not going anywhere.”

He faces a difficult hurdle in the New Hampshire primary that only appears to be getting higher.

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg emerged as a leader in the partial Iowa results, boosting his bid against Mr. Biden for the moderate lane of the race.

Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who won the state’s 2016 presidential primary in a landslide, remains the candidate to beat in 2020.

A daily tracking poll released Wednesday showed Mr. Buttigieg surging with Mr. Biden and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts fading in the race.

Mr. Sanders led the field with 24% in the tracking poll by Boston Globe and Suffolk University.

Mr. Buttigieg, Mr. Biden and Ms. Warren made the big movements in the tracking poll that was conducted the day after the chaos in the Iowa caucuses.

Mr. Buttigieg climbed into a second-place tie with Mr. Biden at 15%. He was up from 11% and fourth place in the previous day’s tracking poll. Mr. Biden was down from 18% and second place a day earlier.

Ms. Warren trailed them in the tracking poll with 10% of the vote, down from a 13% third-place finish in the previous poll.