Massachusetts is a breeding ground for presidential ambition. John Adams and John Quincy Adams made it to the White House, as did John F. Kennedy. More recently, though, the presidential bids of Massachusetts candidates have fallen short: think Mitt Romney in 2008, John Kerry in 2004 and Paul Tsongas in 1992.

It is, of course, still extremely early in the 2020 election cycle. But in the wake of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, there’s reason to think that the current crop of Massachusetts candidates may not be able to break our presidential losing streak.

On the Democratic side, Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren finished fourth, far behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Given that polling in fall 2019 showed Warren was the front runner both nationally and in N.H., that result was a major disappointment.

At least, it was from the outside. But in her Tuesday concession speech in Manchester, N.H., Warren put a positive spin on the results. She noted that the nominating process is just beginning, and cast herself as the candidate best suited to bridge the divide between Democratic centrists and the party’s left wing, adding that only a unified Democratic Party can beat President Donald Trump.

“We cannot afford to fall into factions,” Warren said. “We can’t afford to squander our collective power. We win when we come together.”

That sentiment drew loud cheers from the Warren faithful. But Peter Ubertaccio, a political scientist and dean of the Tom and Donna May School of Arts and Sciences at Stonehill College, found Warren’s pitch unconvincing.

“I don’t think there are many people who believe that she’s that person,” Ubertaccio said. “Her approach in Washington has been very much from the left, and has been very much that of a person who views people within her own party, particularly the donor class, with suspicion.

“It’s hard to have aligned yourself with a particular faction of the Democratic Party over the course of your career and then try to pivot to be the person who can bring the [party] together," he added.

Erin O’Brien, a political science professor at UMass Boston, was also skeptical of Warren’s attempt to brand herself as the Democrats' unifier-in-chief.

“Right now, the evidence doesn’t suggest she’s that candidate,” O’Brien said.

In both N.H. and Iowa, O'Brien added, Warren "campaigned extremely hard. By all accounts, she was really well organized in both states. And it didn’t pan out.”

Former Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick also fared poorly Tuesday, receiving less than 1 percent of the Democratic primary vote. He suspended his campaign on Wednesday.

Patrick considered jumping into the race in 2018, but opted not to. When he did enter the Democratic fray last November, he said he'd initially refrained because his wife, Diane, was fighting cancer and that she was now in remission.

In a statement Wednesday, Patrick accused the media of focusing too much on the timing of his candidacy, thereby dissuading voters who might otherwise have supported him.

O'Brien, however, has a different take on why Patrick fell short.

"He just made the wrong call by getting in," she said.

Asked if Patrick's poor showing would damage him if and when he re-enters political life, O'Brien predicted it wouldn't.

"Memories are short and people can still be kind," she said. "He got in very late in a wildly confusing race."

In the Republican primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld finished a distant second to President Donald Trump, garnering about 10 percent of the vote.

Weld has acknowledged that he has little, if any, chance of beating the president and that his candidacy is a largely symbolic push to reawaken what he sees as a dormant Republican conscience.

As Ubertaccio sees it, though, Weld achieved the opposite in the Granite State.

"It reaffirms that there’s no real desire among Republicans to see a change in their leadership," he said of Weld's finish.

"Look at the numbers," Ubertaccio added. "When it comes to turnout for an incumbent president running for re-nomination in the New Hampshire primary, Republican or Democrat, Donald Trump literally Trumps them all."

O'Brien was inclined to give Weld more credit, however.

"Some Republicans definitely want to vote against Donald Trump and Bill Weld provided them an opportunity to do it," she said. "And that's his strategy."

Between votes for Weld and votes for write-in candidates, O'Brien added, roughly 15 percent of Republican primary voters rejected the president.

"I think that number indicates that Trump is going to have trouble in New Hampshire [in November]," O'Brien said. "And it shows that some vulnerability [for Trump] among the GOP still remains."

Given the way the three Massachusetts presidential candidates struggled on Tuesday, that may have to count as a victory.