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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush talks with supporters at a polling place outside Eastlan Baptist Church today in Greenville, S.C.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush accompanied by his wife Columba, speaks at his South Carolina Republican presidential primary rally in Columbia, S.C., today.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles during a South Carolina Republican primary night event tonight in Spartanburg, S.C.
SPARTANBURG, S.C. » Donald Trump tightened his grip on the mantle of Republican presidential front-runner today as South Carolina voters seething about Washington and career politicians propelled the billionaire businessman to a comfortable primary win.
One of Trump’s favorite targets, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, finally threw in the towel, suspending his campaign after a dismal finish. “Thank you for the opportunity to run for the greatest office on the face of the earth,” an emotional Bush told his supporters.
Trump looked ahead to Nevada and then the 10 primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday as he tries to increase his delegate advantage.
In a family-affair victory speech, Trump ticked off his policy promises, vowing to terminate President Barack Obama’s health care law and get Mexico to pay for a wall at the border.
“We’re going to start winning for our country because our country doesn’t win anymore,” said Trump, with his wife, Melania, and daughter Ivanka at his side.
Two freshmen senators — Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida — were battling for second place, which would give them bragging rights but might not get them any delegates in the march to the nomination.
Rubio declared, “This has become a three-person race.”
Cruz evoked his win in the leadoff Iowa caucuses as he urged conservatives to rally around his campaign, saying, “We are the only candidate who has beaten and can beat Donald Trump.”
The two-three finish of Cruz and Rubio undercut the value of some coveted South Carolina endorsements. Rubio had the backing of Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Trey Gowdy; Cruz got the support of former Gov. Mark Sanford, now a House member.
Exit polls showed 4 in 10 voters angry about how Washington is working, and more than half saying they felt betrayed by politicians in the Republican Party.
Trump’s victory capped a week in which he called rivals liars, blamed House Speaker Paul Ryan for the GOP’s loss in the 2012 presidential race, and even tangled with Pope Francis.
He was backed by nearly 4 in 10 of those who are angry at the federal government, and a third of those who feel betrayed. He did best with men, older voters, those without a college degree and veterans.
About three-quarters of Republican primary voters support a temporary ban on Muslims who are not U.S. citizens from entering the United States. Nearly 4 in 10 of those voters backed Trump, while a third who oppose such a ban preferred Rubio.
Trump won a majority of the delegates in the South Carolina primary — at least 38 of the 50 — and has a chance to win them all.
Trump leads the overall race for delegates with 55. Ted Cruz has 11 delegates, Marco Rubio has 10, John Kasich has five, Jeb Bush has 4 and Ben Carson has three.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.
While the real estate magnate scored a decisive win in New Hampshire, his second-place finish in Iowa to Cruz illustrated gaps in his less-than-robust ground operation, and questions remain about the extent to which he can translate leads in preference polls and large rally crowds into votes.
Trump’s win Saturday could answer some of those questions, adding momentum going into the collection of Southern states that will vote March 1.
The exit polling of voters was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research.
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Associated Press writers Kathleen Ronayne in Columbia, South Carolina, and Alex Sanz in Greenville contributed to this report.
The way Trump was bashing Bush in the campaign. Jeb’s constituents will now go to fellow Floridian Marco Rubio. That’s a ton of voters.
Who cares?
I don’t think so. Trump’s supporters are widespread and frustrating so called political experts who cannot gauge and predict where the nomination is going from here. What started as a joke is at a very serious point and proves that money can’t buy everything. Bush spent the most money so far and still lost. His biggest mistake was to call for the help of his older brother. It was like getting a toothless watchdog can bark but no can bite.
Reminds me of the last election where democratic candidates distanced themselves from Obama. “Thank you but… NO Thank You !!
Nope. His biggest mistake was calling for amnesty for illegals, by stating it was ” an act of love.” He was never going to win after that. Also, we don’t have kings in this country. Just because if you are a Kennedy, Bush or Clinton does not entitle you to the Presidency. No one wants another Bush as President.
The sad truth is, about a third of Republicans are reality-show-IQ’ed bigots. Fortunately, as the “normal” candidates drop out, their votes will go to whichever normal candidate remains. Even if Trump manages to win the GOP nomination, enough regular Republican voters will vote for Clinton or Sanders so that it’ll be another Democrat landslide.
Enough disgusted democrats will vote for Trump to “Make America Great Again”. Hope and Change just didn’t work and now we have a socialist and a liar. The reality show star is for real. I wouldn’t consider Clinton and Sanders normal candidates.
@sarge, I don’t know a single “disgusted democrat” who will vote for Trump. Got any proof to back up your generalizations?
Well, doggy, considering the quality of local government, especially it’s longevity despite it’s performance, it would be challenging to find locally a democrat willing to go against the party line.
As predicted! I said that Jeb would NOT make it! And he didn’t! I also said that Hillary will NOT make it either….She won’t. Though,Jeb seems to be a Nice person,Americans are so Done with the Bushes and The Clintons. Ultimately,It will come down to Bernie or( Bloomberg ?)and Trump!
Thanks Jeb! Peace Out!
That George W. Bush’s voice just has my hairs standing on its end when I hear it. Like fingernails on a chalk board.
Trump won’t win. Rubio will.
And then the GOP will lose the presidency…yet again
It’s the GOP’s turn.
Democrats fear Rubio will win. He’ll utterly destroy Hillary in a debate.
You better take a better look on how caucus votes are tabulated….very uphill for Sanders.
What is troubling is President Obama’s statement that Trump does not have what it takes to be the president, with no experience to speak of…which is strange to say since Obama only held one elected office before he ran for the presidency, and did not finish his term in that capacity when he won. This means that someone like Trump could become the president…scary stuff. There were other people in history disenchanted with their career politicians, weak administrators, and the lack of serious populist representation in their governments. The Weimar Republic of Germany comes to mind. We know who they let run the country after that.
I’m sure that as the GOP race narrows down to Trump vs. a normal candidate, the normal voters will outnumber the Trump idjiots. No Pres. Trump this time. But the scary thing is how close he’s coming. Who knows what’ll happen in the future. More reason to invest more into the educational system, keep our citizens from becoming ignorant–before a charlatan like Trump actually makes it into the White House.
Excuse me, but Trump is the one who is normal.
Barry held two elected positions prior to his being elected as POTUS. One as a State Senator from 1997-2004. Then U.S. Senator from 2005-2008
Barry held two elected positions prior to his being elected as POTUS. One as a State Senator from 1997-2004. Then U.S. Senator from 2005-2008.
Glad to see him gone. Jeb whined so much and reacted to every taunt by Trump.
It appears that the Democrats are going to win the Presidency. Trump is not really Presidential material and his Republican opponents are both of Latin descent (Cuban fathers) which is not completely acceptable to mainstream Americans.
Trump has my vote mainly because he does not give a hoot about the dictatorship of political correctness and dares to hurt feelings of people who do wrong like illegals and their supporters.
Just don’t hurt my puppies feelings.
LOL. “Dictatorship?” A desire to put a hackdoor in every privately-owned smartphone in the country is something that a dictator would come up with.
It’s obvious that a lot of folks who comment here have a poor grasp of both history and vocabulary.
I heard what Jeb Bush said and he did NOT SAY he was ending his WH bid–he said he was suspending his campaign–anything can happen at the GOP convention. Jeb is okay–he lacks PASSION!!!
He ended it. Suspension is a technical FEC term having to do with how money can continue to be raised to pay off campaign debts. He’s done.
Just like how the new government calls a tax a fee, instead.
No, it’s nothing like that at all. Could you please choose one day this week to not make up things?
He lacked passion because he thought he was a shoo-in
Republicans have two left feet to be shoo- in.
Jeb Bush is like Kobe Bryant and hung around long enough to let the door hit him on the way out. Seriously the Bush family has always been almost winners until the senior lost to Clinton. It is a sad chapter in history but long coming from a family that is filthy rich and has lost all reality with the common folk. They have no problems with starting wars as long as their kids don’t have to fight them.
Jeb Bush is like Kobe Bryant and hung around long enough to let the door hit him on the way out. Seriously the Bush family has always been almost winners until the senior lost to Clinton. It is a sad chapter in history but long coming from a family that is filthy rich and has lost all reality with the common folk. They have no problems with starting wars as long as their kids don’t have to fight them.it looks like three is a censorship thing going on here cause I don’t believe that I am repeating myself.
If you are confused the last comment is a result of the commentary rejecting my view as because they said I was repetitive.. I did feel that I was and thank you for accepting my comments.
I did not feel that I was repetitive that’s why my comments are included.
Election with multi-facted issues related to personalities and policies in both parties. Overall seems like a move against the establishment…General Election will determine the path we’ll take.
America is not kidding when it said that they do not want another Bush.
So………..another clown has been yanked from the Clown Car and thrown under da Bus!………..no love lost.
TRUMP!!!
Not large font of T. Small letter t, for trump.
It never ceases to amaze me that citizens continue to vote for their respective party (special interest) and not the man or woman running. Like many other Americans I’m tired of lying politicians, who are filled wit empty promises.
Trump did a excellent job of bashing Jeb. But did he really bash Jeb, or did he bash the Republican Party?
Donald was bashing W. Bush, and the American people took that as a thumbs down for Jeb. I don’t get it.
Jeb!’s foreign policy “experts” were led by Paul Wolfowitz, Stephen Hadley, and the rest of the team that created the greatest disaster in American foreign policy. Maybe the American people were smart enough to know that they didn’t want to see the sequel.
Jeb ended up defending his brothers B S war in Iraq and Trump called him on it. Thousand of Americans lost their lives, many more maimed for life ALL based on the word of a SINGLE iraqi dissendent that was NOT believed by West German and British intelligence and was given the nickname CURVEBALL. Trump was right in mentioning that the CIA must have known the sketchy, unverified BS info given by Curveball was no reason for US to declare war on Iraq for a 2nd time and it was a warmonger, profit making, revenge motivated reason why warmongers (Blackwater) Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld got Powell to mislead the world by stating Iraq had WMD at a UN conference with Powell demanding CIA boss Tenet sit behind him we he made those lies. Powell is a smart man and he should have known better them to be allowed to either be manipulated by Tenet and others or was just as guilty in perpetuating the LIE. The only problem with Trump he is such s racist in the likes of Paula Dean, Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, George Allen (macaca), Dog the Bounty hunter that when matched up against Hilllary, most non-Caucasians will vote for anyone but Trump as the non Caucasion voters got Obama re elected by defeating Romney. Trump is the anti Romney who learned his,lesson and not let anyone get the better of him. Maybe that is why Trump went after Megyn Kelly so hard as he did not allow another repeat of Romney getting biotch slapped by Candy Crowley in a previous debate. For Trump to justify banning muslims such as what was done againsts AJA during WW2 clearly shows his complete disdain for non-caucasians and everyone who stands next to Trump when he gives his victory speeches so far are all Caucasian. He doesn’t care he is doubling down on his unspoken desire to bring white back into the Whitehouse and is banking on the showdown with H Clinton (she will NOT be indicted) that the Caucasian vote will be enough. Romney ,the Mormon from Utah, the State that kicks Polynesians out of bars, found out that stategy does not work with the current racisl makeup of the US.
Maybe Republican voters are falling for crazy Trump ideas like his prescription drug plan – “I said to myself wow, let me do some numbers. If we competitively bid, drugs in the United States, we can save as much as $300 billion a year.” One inconvenient fact is that total Medicare Part D spending for drugs in 2014 was $78 billion. Americans don’t even spend $300 billion in total on prescription drugs. So Trump says that all prescription drugs will be free, and his low-information supporters continue to criticize politicians for making false promises. Go figure.
what kind of voter would vote for Trump?
Trump vs Sanders
You think the rest of the world is laughing at us now? Just wait!
The fix is in as all the super delegates for the Demo party will
be for Hillary. Obama’s justice system will NEVER indict Hillary and if gets to that point Obama will work out a deal with Clinton to plead to a lesser charge and then he will pardon her. The Demos will wait till Trump is a the Repub nominee before unleashing every racist thing Trump has ever said or done and almost every non Caucasian voter will vote for Hillary as an anti-Trump vote. With the current racial makeup of the US growing faster for Hispanics and less for Caucasians, Hillary, the liar and failed Sec of State has a good chance of becoming the next Pres of the US.
You always have such great fantasies! Are they drug induced?
I was going to start a response with something like, “now, let me get this straight…” But, you know what? That would be your job. Maybe invest in a 1000-pound steam iron. Or, something.
Bush’s wife is probably thrilled.