Donald Trump speaking following his victory in the South Carolina primary in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Feb. 20, 2016.
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“I think the evangelical vote [in South Carolina] was a surprise a bit, because his campaign worked so hard on those”, said Republican strategist Debbie Georgatos.
Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the Nevada Democratic caucuses, which was seen as a key contest for the former secretary of state in the race for the party’s presidential nod. Next week’s SC primary will be a test for Clinton, although her win here is nearly certain the big test will be the margin of her victory.
Meanwhile, Jeb Bush has made a decision to stop his run, marking another fallout in the Republican party. Kasich, a moderate who also may appeal to many Bush supporters, is only polling at 2.3 percent in the average of Florida surveys.
Texas’ Cruz was banking on a well-regarded get-out-the-vote operation and 10,000 volunteers to pull out a strong finish in SC as well as in the Southern states that follow.
The race between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio remained too close to call as of 9 p.m. Saturday.
Rubio may have been premature calling the bruising Republican primary “a three-person race”, as he did on Saturday.
At the convention, a lead in the race for delegates guarantees nothing if the candidate doesn’t have an outright majority, said Ben Ginsberg, a leading Republican election attorney. Rubio asked. “I think everyone acknowledges that’s me”.
CNN “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper noted that no Republican has ever won New Hampshire and SC, as has Trump, and not taken the party’s nomination. Bush, the former Florida governor, had been part of that camp of Republican establishment optimists.
Clinton’s Nevada win came just a week-and-a-half after she lost to Sanders by double-digits in New Hampshire.
Calling Saturday “the beginning of the real Republican primary”, Rubio added, “We went through the semifinals and quarterfinals and I think you’re down to a core of three candidates running full-scale national campaigns”. He looked past SC and ticked off Colorado, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Oklahoma as places where he hopes to do well on Super Tuesday when Democrats hold contests in 11 states.
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The maverick billionaire disputed that analysis, telling supporters during his victory rally in SC that “as people drop out, I’m going to get a lot of those votes also”. Both Huckabee and Santorum fared better in SC than Cruz, but both still fell behind other candidates when the race broadened to larger states with fewer religion-centric voters.
