Sanders and Trump breakthrough in 'United States of Anger'

BILLIONAIRE businessman Donald Trump and socialist Senator Bernie Sanders won on Tuesday the Republican and Democratic contests respectively in New Hampshire, the first primaries of the 2016 election season. In a huge turnout in "The Granite State", both candidates enjoyed healthy margins over their nearest competitors.

The size of the victories for Mr Sanders and Mr Trump in New Hampshire, which would have seemed implausible to many only a year ago, injects further uncertainty into this volatile election season. And it also increases the prospects of a third-party run by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, another billionaire businessman albeit of a more centrist stripe than Mr Trump.

On Monday, Mr Bloomberg confirmed that he is seriously considering running as an independent and cited his disappointment at the rancorous rhetoric of candidates of both major parties, including Mr Sanders and Mr Trump, which he asserted is "distressingly banal and an outrage and insult". Mr Bloomberg, who believes that there could be significant "political space" for a centrist, third-party candidate in this year's race, probably needs to make a final decision this month as he would need to add his name onto ballots by early March in order to mount even a semi-credible campaig…