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Donald Trump Wins Nevada GOP Caucus

Mr Trump now has three straight victories – in the West, the South and North east – a testament to his broad appeal among the “mad-as-hell” voters making their voices heard in the 2016 USA presidential race.

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Can Trump’s rivals stop him?

An important factor in Trump’s win?

‘And soon the country will start winning, winning, winning’.

He was the leader in the most recent surveys in 8 of the 12 Super Tuesday states, although there have been no major GOP polls taken this year in Alabama and Tennessee, where Trump leads, or in Colorado, where he doesn’t. “It’s going to be an fantastic two months”, Trump said.

He further said, “If you want more Washington deals, if you want more corporate welfare, if you want more cronyism, if you want more debt, if you want fewer jobs, if you want lower wages, you got two candidates to choose from, in this field”. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination. Trump, though, won a plurality of Hispanic voters in Nevada, according to CNN. “Before that it was seven people”, Rubio said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends”. Kasich and Carson could play spoilers as Trump, Cruz and Rubio, battle for delegates with an increasing sense of urgency.

It was a stunning show of momentum for his campaign, one that made it increasingly hard to imagine a scenario where any other GOP candidate wins the Republican nomination.

Trump, who has leveled his harshest attacks against Cruz, once again knocked the Texan on Wednesday, saying Cruz is “changing his stance” on immigration to better compete with Trump, who has struck the harshest tone and some of the most hardline positions on illegal immigration.

However, since then, Trump has tallied wins in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and now Nevada, with a suite of southern states ahead on March 1, so-called Super Tuesday.

One of the states is Cruz’s home of Texas, where Cruz leads in polls.

On the Democrat side, impatient voters have rallied around Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, who has put up a strong challenge to front-runner and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

The remaining two candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Governor John Kasich, came in at about six and four per cent, respectively.

The election calendar suggests that if Trump’s rivals don’t slow him by mid-March, they may not ever.

Early on, Rubio’s team privately acknowledged that its goal was simply to do well enough in Iowa and New Hampshire to amass enough cash and support to push forward to expected victories in SC and Nevada. Trump was also able to stave off Rubio, who was expected to pick up support from supporters of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush after he dropped out of the race Saturday.

The 6 in 10 caucus-goers who said they prefer an outsider over someone with political experience was a higher percentage than in any other GOP primary or caucus so far, according to the entrance poll conducted for the Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research.

Among those who decided who to support in the last week, about 4 in 10 supported Rubio, while about a quarter supported Trump and Cruz.

Meanwhile, Cruz has been facing mounting questions about the viability of his campaign since he won in Iowa.

In Nevada, Trump benefited from a high profile both nationally and in Las Vegas, where he owns property and has employees.

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“Until there’s some consolidation here, you’re not going to have a clear alternative to Donald Trump”, he said.

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump greets caucus goers as he visits a Nevada Republican caucus site at Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas yesterday. – Reuters pic