Hours before caucus sites opened in Nevada, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump went on another extended riff about his GOP primary rival, Ted Cruz, during a rally.
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Businessman Donald Trump sailed to an easy victory and won the Nevada caucus Tuesday night.
The race for the Republican nomination now moves on to next week’s “Super Tuesday”, when 12 states will hold Presidential primaries.
It underscores, again, the circular firing squad that Trump’s opponents have become – leaving the front-runner untouched as they attack each other.
Mr Rubio is looking to establish himself as the main rival to Mr Trump after finishing second in the SC primary.
Rubio and Cruz had campaigned aggressively in Nevada, but had downplayed expectations as they tried to consolidate Trump-averse Republican voters around them. Wasn’t supposed to win better educated voters.
Jeremy Hughes, a Nevada strategist for Marco Rubio, said he was hearing about extensive problems at caucus sites across the state. The angriest Republican electorate to date also delivered Trump’s most resounding victory. Ted Cruz. Rubio earned a narrow second-place finish, just edging out Cruz by a mere 0.2 percent of the vote, but SC clearly belongs to Trump.
Before the primaries got underway in earnest, many assumed that Trump would fare more poorly than his poll numbers indicated because so many of his supporters had rarely voted in the past.
The three leaders were the only Republican candidates to attract double-digit percentages of churchgoers.
Clinton was aghast when the young woman said her interest rate was between 7 percent and 9 percent, and then, point after point, laid out her plan to lower what the student owes: a contingency repayment program; no debt past 20 years; a reduction for those who take national service jobs. That trend continued during the final days of campaigning before Nevada’s caucuses. Now I think it is Rubio’s race to lose. “He hasn’t said anything stupid or insane or hasn’t pissed too many people off”, Haight said, “which is really what I think the country needs”.
“I don’t want them to pay off all our debt”.
RNC spokesman Fred Brown acknowledges there have been reports Tuesday night of double voting, long lines and not enough ballots at Palo Verde High School.
In a state where 21% of the population is of Mexican ancestry, Trump sought to tap into resentment among white Republicans by repeatedly promising to build a wall along the Mexican border.
On Wednesday, Rubio heads to a rally in Minnesota, one of the large number of states voting on March 1, where his more measured brand of conservatism may have a good chance.
At stake in Nevada were 30 delegates, which will be awarded both proportionally based on the at-large statewide vote and by who wins the state’s four congressional districts. But that path relies on him actually making up his delegate gap with Trump at some point – which is to say, winning states.
Sanders, meanwhile, was less interested in attacking Clinton than embracing President Barack Obama – and lambasting as “racist” the President’s critics such as Trump. About a quarter said they want a candidate who can bring change.
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“Campaigns are fights”, he said.
