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Maddow: Tonight 'Is Such a Big Victory' for Bernie Sanders

February 1, 2016

Rachel Maddow is feeling the "Bern" tonight on MSNBC.

Maddow said that regardless of the final, full results, the socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) had scored a huge victory for his surprising campaign by essentially tying Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Iowa caucuses.

The results were not final as of this article's publishing.

"I think that at this point, getting this close, is such a big victory for Bernie Sanders that even if he ends up losing by a hair, which is all anybody's going to lose by here, it's still so good for him," Maddow said. "And for Hillary Clinton to have let Bernie Sanders get this close even if she ekes out a victory, all the stories tomorrow are all going to be about, and all the momentum's going to be about how well he did, and how good he looks going into New Hampshire, where he's leading by a mile."

Sanders holds wide leads in New Hampshire polling with the primary less than two weeks away.

Sanders (I., Vt.), as of 11:45 p.m. on the east coast, was in a race that's too close to call, although Clinton held the thinnest of advantages.

Nevertheless, the Clinton campaign declared victory, a move that Maddow and fellow MSNBC personality Chuck Todd found puzzling. Clinton spoke to supporters late on Monday and said she was "breathing a big sigh of relief."