5 takeaways from the Nevada caucus results

Businessman Donald Trump sailed to an easy victory and won the Nevada caucus Tuesday night. He captured primaries in New Hampshire by 20 points on February 9 and SC by 10 points on Saturday, making his second-place loss in Iowa on February 1 feel like a distant memory.

“We’re winning, winning, winning the country”, Donald Trump declared after a thumping win in Nevada’s GOP caucuses Tuesday night-and many observers seem inclined to agree. “Now we are winning winning, winning the country”, Trump said, claiming victory to a crowded hall.

During his remarks to the crowd at Treasure Island Casino, Trump was going through a list of all the people who love him – Hispanics, the well educated – and said he really loves those without presumably a college degree. “We might not even need the two months, to be honest”.

Thirteen states vote in Republican contests on March 1, known as Super Tuesday, and Trump suggested after winning Nevada that he was closing in on the nomination.

Asked about Rubio, Trump would not level any attacks against the Florida senator who has also avoided directing barbs at the brash billionaire who played an outsized role in sinking former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s presidential aspirations.

“I’ve never dealt with anyone who lies like he does”, Trump said. Rubio was out to prove he can build on recent momentum, while Cruz was looking for a spark to help him recover from a particularly rocky stretch in his campaign.

It appears to be a re-run of SC with Trump winning decisively and Rubio and Cruz fighting it out for second place with Cruz having a one point edge as of this writing (23% to 22%).

“It’s obvious that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio don’t have the sizzle to stop Trump, who is now supercharged and ready to go into the Super Tuesday primaries”.

Rubio will be speaking at the Chevy Bricktown Events Center at 2 p.m. That’ll be his first public event in Oklahoma since announcing he was running.

Mr Trump’s brash assault on the political establishment in an insurgent campaign struck a chord with Republicans in Nevada as he motivated the angriest electorate for the party in a nominating contest to support him.

The remaining two candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Governor John Kasich, came in at about six and four per cent respectively.

In last night’s Nevada caucuses, Trump showed new strengths, notably cracking through the 40 percent ceiling.

The campaign now spreads to the Super Tuesday states – 11 of them that will define the course of this election a week from today. Cruz fell to a surprise third place finish in SC, and after his campaign had promoted an inaccurate video of Rubio, they fired the campaign’s spokesperson.