Bush bows out of Republican race as Trump triumphs in SC

Ted Cruz, who have billed themselves as anti-establishment alternatives to the early front-runner. “It is tough, it is nasty, it is vicious, it is lovely”, Trump, 69, said in his victory speech.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida came in behind Trump with 22.4 percent of the vote.

In Spartanburg, Trump thanked his family, supporters and volunteers for his campaign’s success in the Palmetto State.

With his double-digit win in South Carolina, Donald Trump is without a doubt the front-runner for the GOP nomination.

Her win means she will pick up at least 18 of Nevada’s 35 delegates, while Mr Trump is also accumulating a delegate lead among Republicans. His other rivals will get zero.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced Saturday that he is ending his presidential campaign, news that comes immediately after his less than stellar showing in the SC primary. Cruz follows with 11 delegates and Rubio has 10.

“Tonight here in SC, the message is pretty clear”. He likely will need to win the Republican nomination outright, as it seems improbable that a brokered convention would be to his advantage.

Speaking to backers in South Carolina, Trump signaled the coming fury by discussing the difficulties of running for president. The share of self-described born-again Christians increased from four years ago – up to 73 percent compared to 65 percent in 2012.

Right now, it is a three-way race between Trump, Cruz, and Rubio.

Kasich, meanwhile, campaigned Saturday in two other March 1 states, Vermont and MA. The senator is expected to stump there from Sunday afternoon through Election Night.

Nevada doesn’t stand up to, say, OH as a bellwether, but it’s far more representative of the rest of the country – and, in particular, of Democratic voters – than New Hampshire.

“When you win it is attractive and we are going to start winning for our country!”

Still, it was Trump who was the only real victor in SC.

It is hard to overstate how important Mr. Bush’s departure is to Mr. Rubio. And his win came in spite of several controversies in the past week, which have had little impact on his dominance – as usual this election cycle.

That could benefit Rubio the most, if Bush’s wealthy campaign donors, part of what is considered the Republican establishment in the USA, now switch their allegiance and send millions of dollars in donations to Rubio in an effort to keep either Trump or Cruz from being the Republican standard bearer.

“Part of the dynamic up to this point is Donald has been, you know, in the mid 30s to low 30s, high 20s in most polls and then you have 70 percent of the Republican electorate that says, ‘We’re not voting for him, ‘” Rubio told “Face the Nation”.

Ultimately, South Carolina will be remembered as the death knell for Bush.

The son and brother of former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush entered the race to huge expectations in June, and quickly fueled them with fundraising.

As the candidates prepare for a contest that is quickly turning from individual battles into a nationwide race, Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich could begin to appear as afterthoughts as both polled in the single digits Saturday.

In between now and then, there is a caucus in Nevada and a number of southern states up for grabs on March 1.