Cruz, Rubio face critical test in Nevada as Trump ahead

Businessman and Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, was declared the victor in the Nevada caucus on Tuesday, according to results reported by the Associated Press.

Harking back to own win in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, Cruz told supporters “the only campaign that has defeated Donald Trump is this campaign”. While Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are still in the race, most political pundits see only three candidates as serious contenders.

The race for the Republican nomination now moves on to next week’s Super Tuesday, when a dozen states will hold presidential primaries.

“One week from today will be the most important night of this campaign”, he said.

“I think it’s great but I don’t think we go far enough”, he said.

A tight fight played out between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio for second place, just as it did in SC at the weekend. That’s fewer white evangelicals than this year’s Iowa caucus and SC primary, but the largest portion above 65 of any Republican test yet.

Trump has based much of his campaign on appealing to nontraditional voters and those who have been uninvolved in politics in the past.

“Caucuses are notoriously hard to poll and predict, especially in states like Nevada without a long history, but Trump has led public surveys handily”.

Heading into Nevada, Trump was in the lead among Republican candidates for delegates needed to secure the nomination.

All eyes now are on March 1 and Super Tuesday when a whole host of states will make their choice. The late caucus times and the often chaotic nature of the Nevada Republican caucuses meant that results were not finalized until early Wednesday.

He noted that the Nevada caucus was taking place as mainstream Republicans are grudgingly accepting the fact that the bombastic Trump may well end up the party’s nominee given his seemingly unstoppable winning streak.

Experts said the focus was on whether Rubio and Cruz would be able to slow Trump’s momentum and which of the two candidates would come in second.

Bush hasn’t formally endorsed a Republican since suspending his campaign, but “given the well-known antipathy between Rubio and Bush”, it’s possible that his supporters could go to Kasich, said Jeanne Zaino, a professor of campaign management at New York University, according to a report on KLEW-TV.

Trump also took one-third (33 percent) of the older vote in SC, with Rubio (25 percent) coming in second.