Cruz, Rubio face critical test in Nevada

[webfact]

Cruz, Rubio face critical test in Nevada
By STEVE PEOPLES and NANCY BENAC

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ted Cruz is fighting to keep from spiraling out of contention.

Marco Rubio is fighting to prove he can build on his recent momentum.

And Donald Trump, with his rivals locked in a battle for second, is fighting for a third straight victory to expand a delegate lead that could soon become insurmountable.

Tuesday night's Nevada caucuses force a critical test on the Republican Party's leading presidential candidates.

"I think it's the most unpredictable of all the races we've had so far. You go in really knowing less about this than any other election," said a less-than-confident Rubio. "We'll see."

Cruz, a fiery conservative popular among voters on the GOP's right, needs a spark to recover from one of the weakest moments of his campaign.

After denying charges of dishonest tactics for several weeks, the Texas senator on Monday asked for and received the resignation of a senior aide who spread an inaccurate news report suggesting Rubio had criticized the Bible. That was just days after Cruz finished a disappointing third in South Carolina after spending much of the past two weeks defending his integrity.

Another disappointing finish in Nevada's low-turnout caucuses would raise new questions about Cruz's viability heading into a crucial batch of Super Tuesday states on March 1.

"There's something wrong with this guy," Trump said with his usual measure of tact during a massive Las Vegas rally Monday night. The former reality television star tweeted on Tuesday, "He used him as a scape goat-fired like a dog! Ted panicked."

Nevada's caucusing takes place in schools, community centers and places of worship across the state — a process that's been chaotic in the past.

"Please make sure you understand exactly where you're supposed to be tonight, because there could be a lot of confusion," Rubio told supporters.

The state marks the first Republican election in the West, the fourth of the campaign. And it's not one that's gotten much attention from the GOP candidates.

Through Tuesday, the Republican candidates and the super PACs supporting them had spent a combined $3.8 million on television and radio advertisements in Nevada — less than a tenth of the $39.3 million spent ahead of last weekend's South Carolina primary, according to Kantar Media's CMAG data.

That primary reduced a GOP field that included a dozen candidates a month ago to five, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush the latest to drop out after a disappointing finish in South Carolina. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson remain in the race and could play spoilers as the trio of leading candidates, Trump, Cruz and Rubio, battle for delegates with an increasing sense of urgency.

Trump's rivals concede they are running out of time to stop him.

The election calendar suggests that if the New York billionaire's rivals don't slow him by mid-March, they may not ever. Trump swept all of South Carolina's 50 delegates, giving him a total of 67 compared to Cruz and Rubio who have 11 and 10, respectively.

There are 30 delegates at stake in Nevada, awarded to candidates in proportion to their share of the statewide vote so long as they earn at least 3.33 percent. While proportional contests give Trump's weaker rivals a chance to accumulate delegates, proportional contests also make it difficult to catch up if one candidate runs up a significant lead.

Rubio and Cruz have been laying into each other viciously in recent days, an indication they know Trump can be stopped only if one of them is eliminated. But neither of the first-term Hispanic senators is predicting victory in Nevada.

Rubio left the state before voting began, preferring to campaign in Minnesota and Michigan instead. He lived here as a boy, from grades 3 through 8 as his father tended bar and his mother cleaned hotel rooms. He told supporters Tuesday before heading out that he was the candidate who could best grow the GOP here - especially among its many Democratic-leaning casino workers.

"When I'm our nominee they will hear from us," Rubio said. "This is a city where tens of thousands of people are living how I grew up."

After finishing third in Iowa, fifth in New Hampshire and second in South Carolina, Rubio needs a win soon to support the idea that he is the prime heir to Bush's supporters.

Indeed, Republican establishment heavyweights have been flooding to Rubio in recent days, including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch. South Florida's three Cuban-American members of Congress announced their support for him in the hours before the Nevada contest.

"We have incredible room to grow," Rubio says. After accusing Cruz of leading a campaign culture of "lies," the Florida senator asserted that Trump's support is capped at roughly one-third of the Republican electorate.

"That means 65 percent of the party is against him," Rubio said. Once that 65 percent consolidates, he said, Trump will lose.
___

Benac reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Las Vegas and Chad Day in Washington contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-24

[pedro01]

"We have incredible room to grow," Rubio says. After accusing Cruz of leading a campaign culture of "lies," the Florida senator asserted that Trump's support is capped at roughly one-third of the Republican electorate.

"That means 65 percent of the party is against him," Rubio said. Once that 65 percent consolidates, he said, Trump will lose.

By this measure - an even larger percentage is against Rubio.

[khwaibah]

Flush these two... GO TRUMP.

[NeverSure]

I heard that Trump is going to make Miss Universe his Vice President, and once a week he'll tell a member of Congress, "You're Fired". LOL.

[NeverSure]

"That means 65 percent of the party is against him," Rubio said. Once that 65 percent consolidates, he said, Trump will lose."

That's ridiculous. That just means that 65% prefer someone else. When that someone else drops out there's no predicting that they won't change to Trump. Also, buy about March 15 the way things are going now, Trump will just about have his delegate count wrapped up.

Watch Nevada in the next few hours and see what happens now that Bush has dropped out. Does Rubio think he'll get all of Bush's?

Does Rubio think all of those 65% are his, 555?

[SgtRock]

NBC entrance poll.

A landslide for Trump coming up ?

[webfact]

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Donald Trump wins the Nevada Republican presidential caucuses

[pedro01]

lol - many people will be imploding at this!

[SgtRock]

I think Trump just blew right through his 35% ceiling.

[Usernames]

Now that Trump has blown through the 42 percent level in Nevada, which the GOPe said would never happen, even Obama appointee and Democratic activist Van Jones is saying he's scared. He had better be. This IS the revolution.

[nottocus]

Go Don!! You are a hero.

[SgtRock]

CNN reporting a jaw-dropping stat from their entrance poll, about the Latino vote in Nevada.

Here’s their breakdown of that:

Quote

Trump: 44 percent

Rubio: 29 percent

Cruz: 18 percent

Kasich: 4 percent

Another theory bites the dust.

[khwaibah]

GO BIG D GO.

[SgtRock]

Poor Carson, who is currently sitting with 6% of the vote, will stay in the race, saying:

What will eventually happen is that the people, we the people will actually want to hear real solutions,” Carson said. “It’s just a matter of time before they start demanding answers, and start demanding solutions but now we’re sort of in the ancient Rome stage where everyone wanted to go to the coliseum ‘bring on the lions and tigers see them eat the eagle.’”

But the retired neurosurgeon said he’ll be there with a fire extinguisher after Rome is on fire.

“We have a bunch of fire extinguishers, we are going to put the fire out and put the fire in our bellies,” Carson said.

For the sake of his sanity, get him out of the sun and retire him from the race.

[Ulic]

Even the simple math of Rubio fails to realize that while 65 % of the GOP vote may

be against Trump, 75% to 85 % of the GOP vote is against Rubio and Cruz if you

calculate things the same way against them.

[keemapoot]

Trump clobbers Rubio and Cruz in Nevada, cementing his frontrunner status

[DeaconJohn]

Trump clobbers Rubio and Cruz in Nevada, cementing his frontrunner status

I think so too.

Trump is the odds-on favorite.

Americans like a winner... even if he's a nut.

[Publicus]

 

CNN reporting a jaw-dropping stat from their entrance poll, about the Latino vote in Nevada.

Here’s their breakdown of that:

Quote

Trump: 44 percent

Rubio: 29 percent

Cruz: 18 percent

Kasich: 4 percent

Another theory bites the dust.

The Nevada caucuses today are for members of the Republican party only.

The Democrats this past Saturday had their Democratic Party only caucuses.

It's a laugh riot to know that only 17% of all Hispanic voters in the United States are registered as Republicans.

Even funnier is that Mitt Romney lost in 2012 while getting a paltry 27% of the Hispanic vote. George W Bush in 2004 got 43% of the national Hispanic vote. However, there's been a lot of water under the Hispanic-Republican party broken bridge since then.

So whoever is the Republican nominee in this quadrennial election year, and it looks like it's The Donald, will again get between only 17% to 27% of the national Hispanic vote.

Split the difference..22% of the total Hispanic vote to the R party nominee for potus. The Hispanic vote in November is but one part of the Republican party getting blown out in the election. Across the board. Which means bye-bye to the Republican majority control of the Senate too.

Speaking of dust, come November it's Trump and the Republican party that will be left standing there chewing dust.

It's shaping up to be a great election year!

[SgtRock]

Publicus, on 24 Feb 2016 - 15:13, said:

 

SgtRock, on 24 Feb 2016 - 12:33, said:

CNN reporting a jaw-dropping stat from their entrance poll, about the Latino vote in Nevada.

Here’s their breakdown of that:

Quote

Quote

Trump: 44 percent

Rubio: 29 percent

Cruz: 18 percent

Kasich: 4 percent

Another theory bites the dust.

The Nevada caucuses today are for members of the Republican party only.

The Democrats this past Saturday had their Democratic Party only caucuses.

It's a laugh riot to know that only 17% of all Hispanic voters in the United States are registered as Republicans.

Even funnier is that Mitt Romney lost in 2012 while getting a paltry 27% of the Hispanic vote. George W Bush in 2004 got 43% of the national Hispanic vote. However, there's been a lot of water under the Hispanic-Republican party broken bridge since then.

So whoever is the Republican nominee in this quadrennial election year, and it looks like it's The Donald, will again get between only 17% to 27% of the national Hispanic vote.

Split the difference..22% of the total Hispanic vote to the R party nominee for potus. The Hispanic vote in November is but one part of the Republican party getting blown out in the election. Across the board. Which means bye-bye to the Republican majority control of the Senate too.

Speaking of dust, come November it's Trump and the Republican party that will be left standing there chewing dust.

It's shaping up to be a great election year!

Every prediction by the Dumocrats has been trounced by Trump so far.

I think you are correct, it is shaping up to be a great election year. not for the reasons that you envisage.

[maisodni]

I don't like Cruz, but I actually felt sad for him, watching him try to justify his likely path to the party nomination: (paraphrasing) "No one has ever won the Republican nomination without winning one of the first four state primaries, and only two of us have accomplished that."

Well Ted, no one has gone forward to the nomination without finishing above third place in at least two of the first four primaries, either.

For everyone clamoring for several candidates to drop out, because they don't have a chance - that is unlikely to happen, because the four remaining "also rans" all have ambitions for 2020 or beyond, and their donors and their campaign organizations are all urging them to stay in a hopeless 2016 race, just to give their campaign teams more experience, and more opportunity to work out internal processes, in preparation for another run in 2019/2020.

MS

[NeverSure]

 

CNN reporting a jaw-dropping stat from their entrance poll, about the Latino vote in Nevada.

Here’s their breakdown of that:

Another theory bites the dust.

The Nevada caucuses today are for members of the Republican party only.

The Democrats this past Saturday had their Democratic Party only caucuses.

It's a laugh riot to know that only 17% of all Hispanic voters in the United States are registered as Republicans.

Even funnier is that Mitt Romney lost in 2012 while getting a paltry 27% of the Hispanic vote. George W Bush in 2004 got 43% of the national Hispanic vote. However, there's been a lot of water under the Hispanic-Republican party broken bridge since then.

So whoever is the Republican nominee in this quadrennial election year, and it looks like it's The Donald, will again get between only 17% to 27% of the national Hispanic vote.

Split the difference..22% of the total Hispanic vote to the R party nominee for potus. The Hispanic vote in November is but one part of the Republican party getting blown out in the election. Across the board. Which means bye-bye to the Republican majority control of the Senate too.

Speaking of dust, come November it's Trump and the Republican party that will be left standing there chewing dust.

It's shaping up to be a great election year!

LOL. You'll obviously be the last to know because you want to be the last one to catch on. I'll PM you and let you know you have a new President Trump in November.

[Publicus]

There's a lot of fantasizing occurring at this point of the nomination process of the Republican party.

Reality is the Party is in a civil war and the fact puts it at a decided disadvantage in the general election, which is in November. The rightwhingers luv the hell, fire and brimstone of it so they are leading the charge up the hill. The hill is however so high and so steep its top is in the clouds so the whingers can't yet see it.

I've always enjoyed watching a Demo Derby and this one is a real smash 'em and bash 'em of a wingdinger. A barn burner as they used to say.

Sixty percent of Americans say they have an "unfavorable" view of Donald Trump running for potus. I know where to go to find those loose wingnuts who do luv the precious one.

When Romney lost in 2012 he nonetheless got 59 million votes. Trump in November will lose while getting 35 million votes. Get yer airpump in hand cause there's a blowout coming down the road.

[Publicus]

 

Publicus, on 24 Feb 2016 - 15:13, said:

 

SgtRock, on 24 Feb 2016 - 12:33, said:

CNN reporting a jaw-dropping stat from their entrance poll, about the Latino vote in Nevada.

Here’s their breakdown of that:

Quote

Quote

Trump: 44 percent

Rubio: 29 percent

Cruz: 18 percent

Kasich: 4 percent

Another theory bites the dust.

The Nevada caucuses today are for members of the Republican party only.

The Democrats this past Saturday had their Democratic Party only caucuses.

It's a laugh riot to know that only 17% of all Hispanic voters in the United States are registered as Republicans.

Even funnier is that Mitt Romney lost in 2012 while getting a paltry 27% of the Hispanic vote. George W Bush in 2004 got 43% of the national Hispanic vote. However, there's been a lot of water under the Hispanic-Republican party broken bridge since then.

So whoever is the Republican nominee in this quadrennial election year, and it looks like it's The Donald, will again get between only 17% to 27% of the national Hispanic vote.

Split the difference..22% of the total Hispanic vote to the R party nominee for potus. The Hispanic vote in November is but one part of the Republican party getting blown out in the election. Across the board. Which means bye-bye to the Republican majority control of the Senate too.

Speaking of dust, come November it's Trump and the Republican party that will be left standing there chewing dust.

It's shaping up to be a great election year!

Every prediction by the Dumocrats has been trounced by Trump so far.

I think you are correct, it is shaping up to be a great election year. not for the reasons that you envisage.

Predictable post, trying to turn the table as the glib and the trite minded right seems compulsive about year in and year out.

A polite post nonetheless.

It's a notable post also in that it makes no wild claims about Trump or the Republican party going in to this year's general election. It stands in contrast to the rightwhingenuts who today are prancing on champagne bubbles that will be flat tomorrow. Trump too day after the November 8th election.

[BKResort]

Trump got lucky..For many reason all the other candidates, Republicans and Democrats will not get the votes, and he will win the Presidency.

Very bad choice for the US and the World...but will be the result of the Obama's Fiasco and Clinton's Legacy.

He is just an entertainer, and actor, and a dishonest business billionaire, and all that makes him a very smart contender looking for his own interest and profit. He is not getting money from big corporations now but.... he is also not attacking them in any way....Why?

Because he will get the money...when he is in total control and can set the conditions, and he will get even more billions from the oil, the banking, the insurance, and the military monopolies....and set the world on a path of a Global World.

Environment, Alternative Energy, Social Justice, and Peace, are not in his agenda. Profit and Discrimination are because he, like most Americans, believes that the World still in colonial times, and the US can control the World...with money and/or force.

The only thing good about a Trump Government, is that...after the chaos it will created, new generations may finally fight for a real Change.

[Publicus]

 

Trump got lucky..For many reason all the other candidates, Republicans and Democrats will not get the votes, and he will win the Presidency.

Very bad choice for the US and the World...but will be the result of the Obama's Fiasco and Clinton's Legacy.

He is just an entertainer, and actor, and a dishonest business billionaire, and all that makes him a very smart contender looking for his own interest and profit. He is not getting money from big corporations now but.... he is also not attacking them in any way....Why?

Because he will get the money...when he is in total control and can set the conditions, and he will get even more billions from the oil, the banking, the insurance, and the military monopolies....and set the world on a path of a Global World.

Environment, Alternative Energy, Social Justice, and Peace, are not in his agenda. Profit and Discrimination are because he, like most Americans, believes that the World still in colonial times, and the US can control the World...with money and/or force.

The only thing good about a Trump Government, is that...after the chaos it will created, new generations may finally fight for a real Change.

The post presents many of the myriad of reasons the vast moderate center-middle electorate of the US will defeat Trump and do it in a blowout landslide.

Trump does not represent Middle America which is who one must win to be elected potus. Middle America considers Donald Trump to be a barbarian at the gate leading other barbarians to the gates. The vast American political center-middle are going to toss a bucket's worth of banana peels down on Trump to finish himself off after he slips with a big splash into the moat below.

Last time the right siezed control of the Republican party was in 1964 when Sen Barry Goldwater of Arizona won only five states. Trump will win 15 little red ones in the South and the West and lose big time too. Same Same.

[mrwebb8825]

Trump will win because he doesn't really represent the "Republican Party" per say. He represents the 95% of Americans that are sick and tired of taking it up the pooper from the 5%. He represents doing good business for America instead of giving away our jobs and then rewarding the %5 with tax breaks. He represents NOT letting other countries buy America through incredibly poorly brokered deals to be polite and politically correct.

America's so-called "allies" better sit up and take notice as contract renewal deadlines come into play and renegotiations begin with someone who WILL take the deal to a better place in America's economic interests. The time of being the world's "Unpaid Police Force" is finally over. (soon)

If you recall your history, the first American revolution happened because the rich elite wanted all the goodies without sharing with the people who created them. Those weren't wall street bankers and business tycoons shooting from behind every rock and tree back then and it won't be now.

[keemapoot]

We now have pundits on both left and right making these observations of the big changes we see with Trump and Sanders:

Bill O'Reilly:

"That is not good news for the Republican Party establishment , which does not see Mr. Trump as a worthy candidate, one who can defeat Hillary Clinton," O'Reilly said. "But the establishment has been wrong all along."

O'Reilly said that the establishment has tried to marginalize Trump from the beginning, and as his campaign has continued to surge, they simply don't know what to do.

Bill Maher says:

Donald Trump, on the other hand, obviously says whatever flies into his head — there are Tourette's patients with more control — and people like it. Americans have been choking on political correctness and overly careful politicians for the last generation or two and are sick of it.

Clinton - She's particularly hard to watch as a candidate. (That laugh.) Yes, the hard truth is that Hillary Clinton is a terrible campaigner who is living in a different era.He said that Sanders is "more exciting" to voters, while Clinton comes off as "inauthentic" and is seen as an old-fashioned politician.

http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/02/10/maher-rise-trump-sanders-americans-are-sick-political-correctness

http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/02/24/bill-oreilly-talking-points-memo-donald-trump-scaring-gop-establishment

Edited February 25, 2016 by keemapoot