Rubio and Cruz vie to be top Trump opponent

“If you nominate me, we will unite this party and grow it”, Rubio told supporters in North Las Vegas over the weekend.

One aspect they’re considering is which candidate has the best shot at defeating either of the pro-abortion Democrats – Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

Rubio has already benefited from the exit of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush from the presidential campaign on Saturday, which freed up many establishment donors and politicians to quickly back him. “We now have some Bush people who have come our way, both from a political point of view and a fundraising point of view and we’re going to keep struggling to make sure that we can be out there, keep putting the resources to be in a position of doing well”.

He pointed out that his own state of Texas is he called “the jewel” of Super Tuesday, the March 1st slate of contests, because it is the largest state holding a primary that day.

In a recent CNN/ORC poll, Trump has 45% support from Republican Nevada caucus-goers, Rubio is in second with 19% and Cruz rounds out the top three with 17%. Ted Cruz at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia.

Currently, Trump has 67 delegates, compared to 11 for Cruz and 10 for Rubio.

“You know, four years ago, I think he would have won”, he added.

More than half-52 percent-said they feel “betrayed” by the Republican Party; the businessman won that group by 13 points, 36-23 percent, over Cruz. “I think that is a question that people are trying to sort through”.

Cruz, for his part, stressed his conservative bona fides and said he was the lone “strong conservative in this race who can win”.

In a bold move to draw support from anti-government voters and distinguish himself from Trump, Cruz has released TV ads touting his plan for the federal government to return the 85 percent of Nevada’s land that it owns to the state.

The leading Republican pair split the first two rounds – Mr Trump winning in New Hampshire, a week after Mr Cruz had triumphed in Iowa.

Victorious yet again, Donald Trump has turned his focus to Nevada.

“It is now apparent that the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump and that has beaten Donald Trump is our campaign”, he said in an interview on “State of the Union” with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

At a rowdy Atlanta rally, Trump crowed over his big SC win, saying “we’re just doing one after another”.

What’s more, Mr. Kasich’s plan to cherry-pick states in which to compete likely will leave him far behind in the delegate race, even if he emerges victorious in the winner-take-all contest in Ohio.