Republicans face off in S. Carolina; Dems battle in Nevada

The Republican presidential candidate plans to be back in SC later Saturday to await the results.

Of course, chatter about a candidate does not indicate positive chatter or outright support. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., he speaks during a rally Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, in Reno, Nev.

Republicans were battling in SC, a state seen as billionaire Donald Trump’s to lose and one that could start to clarify who, if any, of the more mainstream candidates might emerge to challenge him.

Republican voters went to the polls in SC on the same day as Democrats in Nevada caucused, giving Hillary Clinton a victory there. At a raucous victory rally in Las Vegas, she lavished praise on her supporters and declared, “This one is for you”. A win would give Cruz a huge boost heading into the southern state-heavy Super Tuesday contests on March 1; second place keeps the Trump vs. Cruz vs. anyone else storyline alive through that date.

In the last debate before the SC primary, Trump did what most conservatives believed would be his death knell. And he has history on his side: Only one candidate has ever lost SC and won the nomination, and that candidate, Mitt Romney, finished in second in 2012.

At his final election-eve rally Friday night in North Charleston, Trump told the widely discredited story of Gen. John Pershing, who was said to have halted Muslim attacks in the Philippines in the early 1900s by shooting the rebels with bullets dipped in pigs’ blood. “When you win, it is lovely”.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were in a race for second place.

Trump and Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses, duked it out in the week leading up to Saturday’s primary, with the campaign growing increasingly nasty.

He was applauded by a crowd that is far more ideologically conservative than Trump who, like his fans, tends to cherry-pick policy preferences from left and right.

For both parties, the 2016 election has revealed deep voter frustration with Washington and the influence of big money in the American political system. If he wins by less than 10%, that will be news, and folks will suggest that Trump’s conflicts with George W. Bush and the pope (really – the pope) finally dented his Teflon armor.

■Ted Cruz has taken time away from campaigning in SC to attend the funeral Mass in Washington for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

The two-three finish of Cruz and Rubio undercut the value of some coveted SC endorsements. SC was a bitter disappointment for Bush, who campaigned alongside members of his famous political family, which remains popular in the state. Though he was once considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination, new fundraising reports out Saturday showed that donations to his super PAC had largely stalled.

“Kansas Republicans do not accept moderate and establishment candidates”, said Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a former state party chairman who’s not endorsed any presidential candidate. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson vowed to stay in the race, despite a single-digit showing.

The crowded Republican contest was a contrast to the head-to-head face-off among Democrats. With about 85 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton was at 52.5 percent to 47.4 percent for Sanders.

Clinton’s campaign initially projected confidence in Nevada, pointing to her appeal to the state’s Latino voting population, but after New Hampshire, her team softened the rhetoric about the western state.

For Democrats, the contest between Clinton and Sanders has become closer than nearly anyone expected.

This is the first state where polling of voters will be able to break out how white voters compared to nonwhite voters since there will be a statistically significant number of the latter. He did best with men, older voters, those without a college degree and veterans.

According to the early entrance polls, Clinton captured the support of voters for whom electability and experience were of paramount importance.

In a continuing sign of her vulnerability, Sanders did best with voters looking for a candidate who is caring and honest.