After taking what he called a “gut punch” in the Iowa caucuses, former Vice President Joe Biden is taking a new approach in the final days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, calling out his opponents directly to argue that they are unqualified to be the Democratic nominee.

Biden unloaded on Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg at a rally here Wednesday in an effort to forcefully provide a reality check for voters by contrasting his electability and experience argument to the two Iowa caucus frontrunners.

Even though Biden has downplayed an apparent fourth place finish in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, his agitation for his loss has been on display since arriving in New Hampshire Tuesday, where he first began to directly call out Sanders by name.

But on Wednesday he went further than just criticizing Sanders’ Medicare-for-All position, pointing at the fact that vulnerable Democratic down-ballot candidates in red and blue states alike would have to defend Sanders’ far-reaching ideas, many of which Democrats have expressed skepticism about supporting.

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An Iowa Democratic aide says staff is literally examining the photo or paper records that have been collected and matching it against the inputted responses, which “obviously takes time.”   

This has to be done for all three sets of data: initial preference, reallocated preference and the state delegate equivalents.

The state Democratic Party is expected to release more results Wednesday afternoon.

The Iowa Democratic Party released an update on the results of caucuses Wednesday afternoon, but the additional numbers show no change in the candidates' positions.

With 75 percent of the results now reported, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg retains a narrow lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., while Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., remains in third place, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

Those positions have remained the same since the state Democratic Party released initial results and an update on Tuesday. 

Joe Biden threw down against Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg post-Iowa, pointing out to supporters in New Hampshire that one candidate is a self-described "democratic socialist" and the other was the mayor of a small Midwestern city.

If Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, were to become the Democratic nominee, Biden said that "every Democrat in America up and down the ballot, in blue states, red states, purple states ... in easy districts, in competitive ones, every Democrat will have to carry the label Sen. Sanders has chosen for himself."

"He calls him — and I don't criticize him — he calls himself a democratic socialist," Biden continued. "Well, we are already seeing what Donald Trump is going to do with that. So when Sanders attacks me for having baggage, I have to tell you the 60-plus candidates that I campaigned for in the toughest districts in the country just two years ago don't see me as baggage. They wanted me in their districts."

"I doubt whether if many people ask Bernie Sanders to come in and campaign," Biden added. "He's a good man. But he labeled himself."

Biden then went after Buttigieg, noting that the former mayor of South Bend, Inidana, calls Biden "part of the old, failed Washington."

"Well, really? Was it a failure when I went to Congress to get Obamacare passed into law?" Biden asked. "Was it a failure when I got passed the implementation of the Recovery Act to prevent an economic collapse, another Great Depression? Was it a failure when I worked to get the Iran nuclear deal done? Was it a failure with the Paris climate accord, the Violence Against Women Act, the chemical weapons treaty, the Brady Bill, the ban on assault weapons? Was it a failure?

"Is he really saying that the Obama-Biden administration was a failure?" Biden continued. "Pete, just say it out loud. I have great respect for Mayor Pete and his service to this nation, but I do believe it's a risk, to be just straight up with you, for this party to nominate someone who has never held an office higher than mayor of a town of a 100,000 people in Indiana. I do believe it's a risk." 

More results out of Iowa will be released in the early afternoon, per a Democratic Party official.

"As always, the IDP's focus is on the integrity of the results, including verifying the results with the paper trail. In some cases, that means literally examining a photo or physical document to match it against the inputted responses.   

Caucus IDP organizing staff fanned out across the state to connect with precinct leadership and collect any outstanding documentation. IDP designed this system to more efficiently collect the paper records this cycle. The overwhelming majority of these documents have now been collected. Per IDP rules, these documents are stored offsite through a secure chain of custody."