For Bernie, it's NH or Bust.

MSNBC: For Bernie Sanders, it’s New Hampshire or bust

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire – It looks like it’s New Hampshire or bust for Bernie Sanders, who is counting on a win here to give him the momentum he needs to continue fighting Hillary Clinton into the spring. And that makes the state potentially the most important of the early nominating contests.

While the Sanders campaign is hardly writing off Iowa, where the candidate is spending this weekend, and whose Feb. 1 caucuses kick off the presidential contest, his aides are increasingly talking about Iowa as a place they need to make a strong showing or to outperform expectations – not necessarily to win.

In New Hampshire, however, which holds its primary on Feb. 9, there is only one option. “I wake up every morning and tell myself that New Hampshire is a must-win,” Sanders’ New Hampshire state director Julia Barnes told MSNBC. “I think strategically there is a great amount of importance for us to do well here … No one is going to say that it’s not a must-win.”

Sanders is currently outspending Sec. Clinton on TV ads in the NH market, 3.6M to 2.4. Bernie needs to win in Iowa and NH to become a viable threat. Lose one, he’s still in the running. Lose both, he’s back home in Vermont skiing.

The week between the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary is vital for Bernie. If Sen. Warren is ever going to endorse, this is the week she’ll do it, in my opinion. Who she’ll choose is anyone’s guess, but Bernie needs it most.

Bernie Sanders dons a reindeer hat at a holiday festival in Plymouth, NH. pic.twitter.com/saSmNVo0vg

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) December 5, 2015