CNN projected on Tuesday that Sanders, a United States senator from Vermont, won the New Hampshire primary. It’s a worst-case scenario for Rubio and many Republican officials alike who hoped to avoid a prolonged and painful nomination fight in 2016. Following his disappointing finish in New Hampshire, Rubio has launched his strongest anti-Trump salvos during a new string of pubic forums and television show appearances this week.
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The public embrace of a possible brokered convention marks a sharp shift in rhetoric from Rubio’s top adviser that could be created to raise alarm bells among Republican officials.
The six remaining GOP candidates face off Saturday evening before South Carolina’s primary vote-here’s how to watch online.
I could care less about the insults Donald Trump gives to me – it’s blood sport for him.
The senator has long contended that he is eligible to be president, noting the distinction between naturalized and natural-born citizen, the Hill reports.
In remarks that were at times personal and others defiant, he also may have simply needed to talk it out to help process his predicament.
The future of the U.S. Supreme Court grabbed center stage in the country’s presidential campaign with the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, setting up an election-year battle over who should succeed him on a nine-member bench that interprets U.S. law over such hot-button issues as abortion, gay marriage, healthcare and immigration.
“I was what they call a member of the ‘cheap hawk caucus, ‘” he said Thursday at a Pancake House in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
Jeb Bush aides say he plays strongest along South Carolina’s coast, among a concentration of active military and retired veterans, including many from the Northeast and Midwest. I don’t know what they were. “They were learning from that experience”, he said. The former Florida governor has struggled to gain much traction since launching his presidential bid, but after investing a considerable amount of time and money in New Hampshire, he placed fourth there.
Meanwhile, at Thursday’s Democratic debate in Milwaukee, Hillary Clinton, who has cast herself as the rightful heir to President Barack Obama’s legacy, accused rival Bernie Sanders of diminishing the president’s record and short-changing his leadership.
Suddenly, mainstream Republican fears about Trump’s dramatic rise – following his decisive win in last week’s New Hampshire primary – had a palpable sense of urgency.
“I guess it’s hard to say they’re accomplishments”, Santorum says in the clip.
Can Jeb Bush build on his New Hampshire finish? “I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody”. “There are a lot of candidates”, Gowdy said as he was traveling with Rubio on Wednesday. “But, you’re running to be the leader of the free world – it’s supposed to be a challenge”.
There is symbolic importance to winning SC, a state famous for choosing the Republican Party’s eventual nominee. “If we are still fighting with each other in August, and September and October, we won’t win”.
Five of the 17 candidates – Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki – dropped out of the race before a single vote was cast.
Heading into South Carolina, Trump already has a solid lead. And though New England is hardly favorable territory for the outspokenly conservative Cruz, the Iowa victor showed he remains someone to be reckoned with by finishing third.
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Sensing weakness, Democrats and Republicans alike have begun to question Rubio’s long-term viability.
