South Carolina is Trump Country as yesterday the New York billionaire rolled to a big wins in the Palmetto State. Donald Trump won the South Carolina primary, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won a close battle for second as he edged out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for second place.
We now have a three man race with Trump rolling into the South with only Cruz and Rubio left as legitimate challengers with Bush gone from the race.
“There’s nothing easy about running for president, I can tell you. It’s tough, it’s nasty, it’s mean, it’s vicious, it’s beautiful,” Trump declared to his supporters at his victory rally in Spartanburg, S.C. The final numbers look like this as Trump racked up 32.5 percent of the vote, while Rubio and Cruz were very, very close with 22.5 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively. “Let’s put this thing away,” Trump to a big and loud crowd as he looks, ahead to Nevada next week and two weeks from now Super Tuesday number one on March 1st.
South Carolina will provide a big boost for Trump as he looks to do just that. It’s the first winner-take-all state until March 15, and with his dominant victory in the state, sweeping every congressional district, Trump claimed all 50 delegates up for grabs.
Now that Bush is out the establishment candidate is clearly at least now is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
“Tonight here in South Carolina, the message is pretty clear. This country is now ready for a new generation of conservatives to guide us into the 21st century,”
Rubio boomed, as Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott stood behind him Rubio’s second place, a solid finish he badly needed after a disappointing showing in New Hampshire.
Rubio has establishment lane down and while he might not be the best candidate for that wing of the party his is all they have left unless Ohio Gov. John Kasich pulls an upset somewhere in the Midwest on one of the Super Tuesday’s.
But at the end of the day it remains to be seen where either Rubio or Cruz beats Trump who as he says could have this wrapped up by the end of March.
