Chris Christie suspends presidential campaign

Christie hinted at his potential exit last night, telling supporters there was “no reason to go and sit in SC in a hotel room” to study the results in New Hampshire and decide how to move forward accordingly.

Unlike the Democratic contest, which has been effectively a two-person race for months, with the avuncular Mr. Sanders turning a leftist insurgency into a movement that now genuinely threatens former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s presumed invincibility, the Republican field has more winnowing ahead before it becomes a choice between a centrist and a right-wing candidate. “I don’t think it necessarily is negative”, he said. And as he shifts his attention to South Carolinas February 20 contest, the 44-year-old freshman senator wants voters to know hes learned an important lesson from his experience in New Hampshire.

Why mess with what works?

“We leave New Hampshire tonight without an ounce of regret”, he said.

At a New Hampshire campaign event this week, Trump repeated a crowd member’s insult of Cruz: “She said – I never expect to hear that from you again! – she said: ‘He’s a p***y.’ That’s bad”.

Cruz is attacking the front-runner’s past record of supporting liberal causes, including abortion rights. Marco Rubio of Florida.

With such bleak results, it was unlikely that Christie would have been invited to participate in the next Republican debate on Saturday.

Cruz, who has run second in SC polling, will try to catch Trump by leaning heavily on evangelicals.

Beat up after the New Hampshire primary, the US senator from Florida hopes a home-field advantage will give him a boost in SC. Mrs Clinton’s campaign deployed SC state congressman Todd Rutherford to vouch for her support for minorities.

Rubio aims to nibble a little at all the GOP voting groups in the state.

The name of the game for the remaining establishment candidates is money. But he also is visiting an Upstate Christian school and will attend Friday’s faith-and-family forum at Bob Jones University, co-sponsored by one of the state’s more influential religious political organizations. “So it’s great to be here and it’s great to be part of a conservative primary”. His campaign released a radio ad Wednesday in SC featuring his brother, former President George W. Bush.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wins by surviving as other candidates wash out, then by defeating Trump head to head.

The fundraising bump came after he trounced Clinton 60 percent to 38 percent in New Hampshire, the second contest to determine the party standard bearer for the 2016 White House race. Lindsey Graham, for supporting unpopular positions on expanding Medicaid and closing military bases.

It was the final blow for a candidate who spent more than 70 days campaigning in New Hampshire. GOP officials have already had early discussions about such a July scenario, which could be triggered if no candidate secures a majority of delegates by convention time. Still, his campaign has four offices and staff in the state.

But Rubio’s stumble in New Hampshire – which came after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie effectively humiliated him on the debate stage – revived questions about his readiness.

While a pro-Kasich super PAC has opened six S.C. offices since the summer, his campaign has not had a large presence in the state.