Trump, Clinton clear latest primary hurdles
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REPUBLICAN presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has grabbed a big win in the South Carolina primary, while Democrat Hillary Clinton breathed life into her sluggish campaign with a victory over Bernie Sanders in Nevada.
The wins on Saturday for the brash billionaire and the former US secretary of state give them a major boost heading into the crucial next phase of the White House race — Super Tuesday on March 1, when about a dozen states go to the polls.
But the rough-and-tumble campaign claimed another victim when former Florida governor Jeb Bush — the brother of one former US president and the son of another — dropped out of the race after another poor showing.
In South Carolina, the 69-year-old Trump captured about a third of the votes, with all of the precincts reporting. His supporters erupted in a roar when CNN called the contest in his favor — his second win of the nominations race after New Hampshire and an important test of the strength of his bid to succeed President Barack Obama.
“There is nothing easy about running for president, I can tell you,” Trump told his victory party in Spartanburg. “It’s tough, it’s nasty. It’s mean. It’s vicious. It’s beautiful.”
He added: “When you win, it’s beautiful.”
After several nail-biting hours, final results showed Florida Senator Marco Rubio in second place in the Republican contest with 22.5 percent of the vote, narrowly ahead of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who had 22.3 percent.
“After tonight, this has become a three-person race and we will win the nomination,” said Rubio, like Cruz a Cuban-American first-time senator.
In Nevada, Clinton claimed a major win in the Democratic race. Final results gave her 52.7 percent of the vote against 47.2 percent for Sanders.
“This is your campaign, and it is a campaign to break down every barrier that holds you back,” Clinton said in her victory speech at her Caesars Palace headquarters on the Las Vegas Strip.
In South Carolina, Trump — a onetime reality TV star who has upended the political landscape with his tough talk on everything from Muslims to Mexico to waterboarding — showed he could compete for the long haul.
“We just think we want to take a risk with Trump. We think he’s had success with everything he’s touched,” said Lynn Derrick, a first-time primary voter in the state capital Columbia.
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 combative.
Trump even had a spat with Pope Francis, who suggested the tycoon was “not a Christian” for wanting to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Trump also called for a boycott of Apple over its refusal to unlock the phone of a suspect in the deadly San Bernardino terrorist attacks.
If Trump wins the Republican nomination and is elected president in the November 8 election, he would be the first US president in history to have no government experience.
Saturday’s results were bad news for Bush, Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who were relegated to the second tier of candidates.
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