And it’s left party officials hoping weaker candidates will drop out of the race after New Hampshire’s primary February 9, to help voters coalesce behind a mainstream alternative.
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“It’s a Trump and Cruz contest for first in the Iowa caucuses at this point”, Republican strategist Ryan Williams of FP1 Strategies told AFP. Bernie Sanders has outspent Hillary Clinton $603,937 to $522,025.
Despite O’Malley’s slim support, the Democratic Party’s rules for allocating delegates mean his backers could ultimately sway the contest in favor of one of the two front-runners.
Is it really down to these two candidates? “Get a rope.’ Remember that ad, for the picante sauce?”
The only conceivable obstruction for Trump is Ted Cruz. Both Trump and Sanders brand themselves as mirroring voters, selling the fact they don’t depend on wealthy contributors and Super PACs, and will therefore beholden only to the American people.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the South Carolina Tea Party Convention in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016. That changed Monday night, when Cruz suggested Trump, a NY billionaire, is chasing conservatives’ favor as if it’s the latest fashion. The rest of the field stands at 5% or less. Those backing Trump would argue his enthusiastic supporters will be certain to show up, just as they do to hear him speak, packing arenas across the country. He leads most polls in New Hampshire, which neighbours his home state of Vermont, but also some in Iowa. Those who assumed – as many did – that Bush would walk away with the Republican nomination were misreading the political barometer. “You can’t call people liars on the Senate floor when they’re your leader….”
Cruz must win Iowa. His support comes more strongly among the groups who have tended to be more reliable voters in the past – evangelicals, those with more formal education, and those who describe themselves as “very conservative”.
Ted Cruz challenged Donald Trump directly by name for the first time on the campaign trail – despite his refusal for months to engage in a “cage match” with the GOP frontrunner. She praised Cruz as someone who “sticks to his convictions” but said she wasn’t sold fully on him just yet.
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But many believe that even if Trump is falling short when it comes to building a get-out-the-vote effort, his supporters are so enthusiastic that it won’t much matter.
