Nevada race tightens: A big test for Clinton’s campaign

For example, a new poll of Democratic voters in MA conducted by Public Policy Polling shows Sanders ahead in the Bay State with 49 percent to Clinton’s 42 percent. After a razor-thin victory in Iowa and a decisive loss in New Hampshire, Mrs. Clinton was counting on Nevada and SC as a firewall to stop rival Bernie Sanders’ momentum.

While much attention has been focused on Republicans competing in this weekend’s SC primary, Democrats will face off in Nevada on Saturday during the “First in the West” caucuses.

– Among likely Democratic voters, Clinton leads Vermont Sen. Thirty-five percent of those polled in Tennessee identified themselves as African-American.

An identical survey released less than two weeks ago found that Sanders maintained 38 percent support among female Democrats and Hillary Clinton had 48 percent.

Clinton’s lead in Tennessee is consistent with the type of lead she holds in other Southern states. Though with only two candidates this time, there may not be a lot of reshuffling. Meanwhile, Sanders is slated to outspend Clinton with twice as many spots scheduled to run in Charleston and Greenville.

Rubio has a slightly bigger margin than Kasich over Sanders, 45.8 percent to 41.8 percent.

Mississippi: Clinton, 60 percent; Sanders, 26 percent. If Sanders continues to poll this favorably against GOP candidates, it will completely undermine one of her key arguments with Democratic voters – that she’s more “electable” than Sanders in the general election. That compares with a 50% to 34% Clinton lead when CNN/ORC surveyed the state in October. He holds a narrow seven-point lead over Clinton in MA, and the race in Oklahoma is even closer; Clinton leads with 46 percent, while Sanders is close behind with 44 percent. Both candidates carry their demographic strong points from prior states into Nevada, with Clinton holding an edge among women, while Sanders tops the former secretary of state among voters under age 55. “And I think they should be”, Ralston told The Washington Post.

Sanders, who frequently decries the country’s high incarceration rate, also met with Sharpton earlier this month, and was endorsed by Benjamin Jealous, former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who said he could not support Clinton in part because of her support of the death penalty.

Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (R-Ga.) blasted Sanders on the issue last week, while Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), the House’s highest-ranking Hispanic, attacked Sanders’s record on immigration reform on Twitter on Wednesday.