Presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday said his campaign took a hit in the Iowa caucus, but he also fired shots at the apparent winners.
"I’m not going to sugarcoat it, we took a gut punch in Iowa," Biden said during a campaign event in Somersworth, N.H. "The whole process took a gut punch."
The former vice president underperformed in Iowa behind former mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.).
But in New Hampshire, Biden took the opportunity to criticize Sanders for identifying as a socialist and Buttigieg for never holding an office higher than mayor of South Bend, Ind.
"Every Democrat will have to carry the label Senator Sanders has chosen for himself, and I don't criticize him, he calls himself a democratic socialist," Biden said.
"I do believe it's a risk, to be just straight-up with you, for this party to nominate someone who's never held an office higher than mayor of a town of 100,000 people in Indiana," Biden said about Buttigieg.
"I don’t think anyone thought Joe Biden would be running fourth right now," CNN politics reporter Chris Cillizza said during CNN's Right Now with Brianna Keilar.
Days after the caucus, only 71 percent of the precinct results have been reported by the Iowa Democratic Party. Buttigieg currently leads with 26.8 percent of the projected delegates, while Biden is in fourth place with 15.4 percent.