“The people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and SC have spoken”, Bush said.
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SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY: Follow those zigzag flight plans.
In Nevada, Clinton was the candidate Democratic caucus-goers said they trusted most to handle a Supreme Court nomination, by an 11 percentage point margin over Sanders, according to entrance polls.
About 48 percent of South Carolina’s Republican voters say the next president should have experience in politics and 48 percent say the next president should be from outside the political establishment.
Jeb Bush had an on-again, off-again strategy to embrace the family name, but finally took full advantage of his family in New Hampshire and especially in SC, where the Bush family name remains a valuable brand.
In the latest of a string of underwhelming primary finishes the former Florida governor took fourth place with 7.8 per cent of the vote in SC, where Donald Trump breezed across the finish line with 33 per cent.
At the beginning of the year, Trump had more salaried campaign employees than Texas Sen. “There is nothing easy about running for President, I can tell you”, Mr Trump told his victory party in Spartanburg.
“I’m proud of the campaign that we’ve run to unify our country and to advocate conservative solutions”, Bush said. Rubio avoided criticizing his GOP rivals, instead highlighting his efforts to help middle-class families.
“Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other”, Clinton said in a fiery left-leaning speech clearly aimed at the minority voters who make up roughly half of the state’s population and who are key in the US South.
While Cruz acknowledged there was “no doubt” the attacks he and Rubio continue to level against each other are helping Donald Trump, he said that his campaign is the “only one campaign that has beaten or can beat” the real estate mogul.
Rubio also suggested it was only a matter of time before John Kasich and Ben Carson folded as well. Cruz has a strong claim to the conservative base of the party, but once SC is behind us, he’s got to appeal to more mainstream voters.
Not so fast, Kasich countered. Cruz argued that when he had endorsements from evangelical leaders in Iowa, he was able to beat Trump, not place second.
Trump makes Georgia his first stop after besting a crowded field that included Florida Sen.
It’s anyones guess as Super Tuesday inches closer. Marco Rubio competed fiercely for second, outdistancing opponents whose rationale for staying in the race came starkly into question.
Donald Trump – who has strong ties to Sin City, including a hotel that towers over the strip with his name on it – stands out as the frontrunner with 39 percent of likely voters supporting him. “Then, all of a sudden, they become mortal enemies”.
Trump, looking ever more in control of the race for the GOP nomination, opted against his trademark braggadocio in assessing the state of the race. Spitting out the superlatives, he called his sweep of all 50 delegates there “amazing”, “beautiful”, “conclusive” and “very, very decisive”.
“I think there’s an underlying question that maybe is really in the back of people’s minds and that is, you know, is she in it for us or is she in it for herself?” Clinton said on CNN.
“I firmly believe the American people must entrust this office to someone who understands that whoever holds it is the servant, not the master, someone who will commit to that service with honor and decency”, he said.
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The challenges of the campaign were driven home two days later when Jeb Bush learned that South Carolina’s governor, Nikki Haley, would endorse Rubio.
