Known for his brash talk, Christie had been overshadowed by New Hampshire’s Republican victor, businessman and television personality Donald Trump, and failed to gain traction with voters.
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“We very easily could be looking at May – or the convention”, Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan told The Associated Press. But the muddled contest for third – U.S. Sen. Typically, Iowa and New Hampshire serve as proving grounds for the candidates. Because, in the past, yes there were fewer polls, and some would say that was a good thing, but all of the polls that there were in 2008 showed Barack Obama leading Hillary Clinton.
Christie had banked his campaign on a strong finish in New Hampshire, but placed sixth despite having spent more than 70 days campaigning in the state.
Trump, who won the New Hampshire primary this week, has led in S.C. polls since late July. Bernie Sanders said, “The people want real change”.
On Saturday, exposed to withering attacks from rival Chris Christie, a former prosecutor, Rubio suffered what was perhaps the most memorable lapse at the presidential level since Edmund Muskie appeared to weep in the New Hampshire snow in 1972.
But that fear was offset, at least for now, by the fact, once again, two of the three GOP leaders were Trump and Texas Sen. He later picked up the endorsement of South Carolina’s former first lady Iris Campbell, a longtime Bush family ally.
“We live in troubled times with the military deployed around the world”, the former president says in the ad as dramatic music plays behind his voice.
But that would still be better than Hillary. Is there a reason to believe that states like SC or Nevada, which have their contests coming up, will have less-accurate polls than the polls here in New Hampshire? University of Georgia lecturer Josh Putnam explains how superdelegates were initiated in order to give the party establishment a stronger voice against caucus and primary voters, which is bad news for a candidate with an anti-establishment brand. The fifth-place finish of US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had hoped to emerge as Trump’s main rival after a surprise third-place showing in Iowa last week, leaves Trump without a clear challenger among the so-called establishment candidates.
Stirewalt said Donald Trump is a fundamental rebranding of the Republican party. GOP officials have already had early discussions about such a July scenario, which could be triggered if no candidate secures a majority of delegates by convention time.
Those results still leave a large chunk of the state’s retirees, suburbanites, Second Amendment supporters, chamber of commerce types and veterans up for grabs next week.
“One of them will do better than the other, and it will be impossible for the relative loser to make the case to donors that he should continue”, he said, referring to the state’s native sons, Bush and Rubio. Sanders could have won New Hampshire even if Clinton had beaten him soundly in Iowa, but the Granite State race would have been much closer.
Both Bush, the former Florida governor, and Rubio, a USA senator from Florida, are in SC today, holding town hall meetings with voters.
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GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush is defending his decision to bring his brother, former President George W. Bush, to SC to help him campaign. Foreshadowing the bitter campaign for survival about to unfold, Rubio aide Alex Conant suggested Trump can’t be beaten if Bush stays in the race, and a Bush staffer disparaged Kasich’s long-term chances.
