The election calendar may have Democrats voting next in SC, but Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are eyeing bigger prizes in March, a month that will determine whether the Vermont senator can keep pace in the White House race.
Advertisement
Clinton’s campaign has argued she would assert control of the Democratic race once it moved to more diverse states with black and Hispanic populations who have traditionally backed Clinton and have been slow to warm to Sanders. And she leaves Nevada with one of her campaign’s core arguments intact-that she is the candidate for African-American voters and that those voters will be her firewall going forward.
For Democrats it is the Nevada caucuses; for Republicans the SC primary. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks at a rally at the Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel on February 21, 2016, in North Las Vegas.
But Trump notably made no mention of Jeb Bush, who announced he is suspending his campaign earlier in the evening.
For both parties, the 2016 election has laid bare voters’ anger with the political establishment. The public mood has upended the usual political order, leaving more traditional candidates scrambling to find their footing. But, having lost a golden opportunity to win in South Carolina, Cruz must figure out how to succeed in states where socially conservative issues are less important.
Among those was Mary Moore, a 68-year-old retiree, who said she’d followed Clinton’s career for years.
In South Carolina, Donald Trump claimed victory while senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are in a fight for second place, states the AP.
But the race will be on to capture the supporters of Bush in MI, led by Attorney General Bill Schuette and a wide array of elected officials. He scored a real coup in winning the endorsement of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
The contest in Nevada was the first of two presidential primary contests being held Saturday. But if Bush was unable to stay close to the leaders, he was sure to face pressure to end his campaign.
Also in the mix was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has low expectations in SC. “We look forward to him criss-crossing the state”. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson had a small but loyal cadre of followers.
For reasons we shall not bore you with, Democrats and Republicans are having nominating contests 2,600 miles apart (capital to capital) on Saturday. Clinton’s campaign even noticeably dialed back its rhetoric about Nevada being a “firewall” that would prevent Sanders from gaining further traction.
Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), a Clinton supporter, said some employees’ work schedules prevented them from coming to their precinct location at the Wynn Las Vegas, according to The Washington Post. And on Saturday, he said they will fan out across MA to get out the vote for Clinton. But in a continuing sign of her vulnerability, Sanders did best with voters looking for a candidate who is caring and honest.
Clinton nearly crossed paths with Sanders at Harrah’s casino Saturday morning less than an hour before the caucuses began. “Our job is to continually close the gap and to show that we have momentum, and I know that we do”.
The latest CNN poll has Clinton leading Sanders by less than one percentage point.
Clinton’s victory places two of the first three states in the win column for the former secretary of state, sandwiching a New Hampshire win by her rival.
Advertisement
Both campaigns aggressively courted Hispanics in Nevada, bulking up Latino and bilingual staff members, locating offices in Hispanic neighborhoods, launching bilingual phone banks and Spanish-language caucus training, and inviting Hispanic celebrities to help spread the word.
