GOP rivals turn to Nevada caucus after Trump’s SC win

Behind him in SC was Marco Rubio, around whom is gathering GOP establishment support seeking to block Mr. Trump. Trump and Ted Cruz have been battling for similar slices of the vote in Iowa, New Hampshire and SC with Cruz making ideological attacks – accusing Trump of not being a “real conservative”.

Marco Rubio’s cheerleaders expect Bush’s exit to bring their candidate some big donations and endorsements – but what he needs is votes. The California congressman predicted voters in Florida, Rubio’s home state, would determine whether Rubio continues or Trump easily rolls on to the nomination.

“I think there’s an underlying question that maybe is really in the back of people’s minds and that is, you know, is she in it for us or is she in it for herself?”

Jeb Bush dropped out of the U.S. presidential race yesterda (Sunday)y, following a crushing defeat in SC that ended his hopes of following his father and brother to the Oval office.

“He wants to grow the party as opposed to Cruz”, Dole said of Rubio. “The corpse is not even in the grave yet, ‘” Hudson said, but he added that: “I’ve supported Rubio in the past”.

Marco Rubio is being talked up by political pundits, Republican party hacks and betting websites after a strong second place showing in South Carolina’s presidential primary on Saturday. “I don’t think we’re going to have a convention, a brokered convention”.

Rubio also addressed the latest development in his intensifying feud with Senate colleague Cruz, whose campaign helped promote a video on Sunday that incorrectly suggested Rubio had criticized the Bible.

Meanwhile, establishment heavyweights continued to back Rubio, with many saying they see him as the candidate who can unite a disharmonious Republican Party.

“If you’re running for president of the United States, you can’t just tell people you’re going to make America great again”, he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation”. Rubio, however, has yet to win a state.

Cruz has been less active in Florida but his campaign is ramping up field operations and looking for office space.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who scored headlines with his second-place finish in New Hampshire, has five delegates, but he is focusing his efforts in northerly Super Tuesday states Vermont, Massachusetts and Virginia. Florida, for example, will award 99 delegates that day, while OH will give out 66.

If one candidate can run up a significant lead, as Trump has begun to, then proportional contests also make it hard for rivals to catch up.

On the Democratic side, caucuses that reward delegates can end in a tie. The state is among roughly a dozen others that have primaries set for March 1. Before March 15, delegates are divided up proportionally based on a candidate’s share of the vote.

One prominent conservative pundit, Erick Erickson, said Monday he would never vote for Trump if he is the Republican nominee.