Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump AP photos
COLUMBIA, South Carolina—Billionaire Donald Trump widened his lead over the Republican party’s presidential field claiming a big victory on Saturday as the contest moved into the South.
Out West, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for a crucial win in Nevada’s Democratic caucuses.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who had done poorly in the first three early Republican contests, suspended his campaign after a disappointing fourth-place finish in South Carolina.
Clinton and Trump’s victories put them in strong positions as the 2016 presidential election barreled toward Super Tuesday—the multistate voting contests on March 1.
“There’s nothing easy about running for president,” Trump said at his victory rally. “It’s tough, it’s nasty, it’s mean, it’s vicious. It’s beautiful—when you win, it’s beautiful.”
Clinton’s roughly 5-point win eased the rising anxieties of her backers, who feared a growing challenge from Sanders.
Trump’s strong showing in South Carolina marked his second straight victory in the Republican primaries and strengthened his unexpected claim on the party nomination.
No Republican in recent times has won New Hampshire and South Carolina and then failed to win the nomination.
3-person race
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a pair of freshmen in the US Senate, were locked in a race for second place in South Carolina. Bush and other candidates lagged far behind.
“This has become a three-person race,” Rubio said of his strong finish, which with Bush leaving the race, bolsters the Florida senator’s case that he is the candidate of mainstream Republicans.
Cruz, who has run as a political outsider, harked back to his win in the leadoff Iowa caucuses as a sign he was best positioned to take down Trump.
He urged conservatives to rally around his campaign, saying pointedly, “We are the only candidate who has beaten and can beat Donald Trump.”
For both parties, the 2016 election has laid bare voters’ frustration with Washington and the influence of big money in the political system.
The public mood has upended the usual political order. That has given Sanders, who put up a stiff challenge to Clinton in Nevada, and Trump openings over many more mainstream candidates.
In Nevada, Clinton won the backing of voters who said electability and experience were important in their vote.
Caring, honest
But in a continuing sign of Clinton’s vulnerability, Sanders did best with voters looking for a candidate they considered was caring and honest.
Clinton capitalized on a more diverse Democratic electorate who helped her rebound after a second-place finish to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary.
“Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other,” Clinton told her cheering supporters during a victory rally in Las Vegas. “This one is for you.”
She said Americans were “right to be angry,” but added they were also hungry for “real solutions.”
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, congratulated Clinton on her victory, even as he declared his campaign had “the wind at our backs as we head toward Super Tuesday.”
Vital win
Clinton’s victory could be vital in pushing back the Sanders challenge that has been tougher than almost anyone expected.
Clinton narrowly won the leadoff caucuses in the Midwestern state of Iowa, but the Vermont senator had a runaway victory in the tiny northeastern state of New Hampshire.
Clinton now leads in delegates pledged to her at the Democratic Party’s national convention in July, but only has a fraction of the number needed to secure the nomination.
Clinton’s win means she will pick up at least 18 of Nevada’s 35 delegates. Trump also is accumulating a delegate lead among Republicans.
Solid performance
No candidate has shaken the establishment more than Trump. He spent the week threatening one rival with a lawsuit, accusing former President George W. Bush of lying and even tangling with Pope Francis on immigration.
The Trump win drove Bush, once the front-runner, who was counting on his family’s broad popularity in South Carolina, out of the race. Bush is the son and brother of former presidents.
Now, the Trump victory foreshadows a solid performance in the collection of Southern states that vote on March 1.
Victories in those Super Tuesday contests could put the billionaire in a commanding position in the delegate count, which determines the nomination at the party’s national convention in July.
Trump has run a campaign punctuated by outrageous statements, including a call to ban the entry of Muslims to the United States.
At his last election rally on Friday night, he upped the ante in his remarks about them, repeating the widely discredited story of American Gen. John Pershing, who was said to have halted Moro attacks in southern Philippines in the early 1900s by shooting the rebels with bullets dipped in pigs’ blood.
Credible alternative
But Rubio is viewed by the Republican party establishment as a credible alternative to Trump and Cruz, two candidates who some leaders believe are unelectable in November.
Rubio had scored the endorsements of several prominent South Carolina politicians, including Gov. Nikki Haley, and seemed to have rebounded after a dismal debate performance two weeks ago that contributed to a disappointing fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary.
Rubio’s good showing is a big boost, for a young candidate who has gathered big support from mainstream Republicans. AP