South Carolina Republican race

Concerned about what chances? He’s got a good chance at the Republican nomination. I figure he won’t win the general.

For the Presidency, sorry.

Official SC state results

I’m watching CNN right now. Cruz and Rubio are essentially tied for 2nd place. The talking heads are going on about how “anemic” Ted Cruz’s showing is in light oh his great ground game. At the same time they are talking about how Rubio is building up momentum and is having an excellent night. It’s sickening how the media seem to be supporting Rubio.

nm. Didn’t refresh. :smack:

Ooh. I am smelling a drop out by Bush in his speech and the intro!

Jeb! is out!

Bush just dropped out. Along with the media being in the bag for Rubio, it looks even more like the establishment is doing their best to try to rally the party around Rubio.

Yup. Suspends campaign.

Looks like they’re running behind CNN and TPM.

Still a virtual tie for second - a moment ago, Cruz was up by 130 with both him and Rubio having >75K votes. A moment before that, Rubio was up by a few hundred.

Cruz is now up by ~1000, as they both pass 80K. Better than a few hundred, but nowhere near secure.

I think they just showed Trump the winner in each district because they projected him the statewide winner. With about 70% in, it looks like Trump has five districts in hand, Rubio has a slim lead in one, and hardly any votes have come in in the seventh, but still, that’s at least 44 of the 50 delegates for Trump.

Rubio now up over Cruz by about 2500.

Jeb!'s withdrawal will be beneficial for Rubio, but how beneficial?

Make that ~3000, with ~75% of the vote in. I’m starting to think Rubio’s lead over Cruz will hold up, which I wouldn’t care about except that the mainstream press is already practically fellating Rubio, and if he finishes second they’ll probably move straight to deep-throating.

Looks likely that Trump will get all 50 delegates. Delegates are how nominations are won.

A lot more than I’d like. Rubio/Kasich is the ticket that scares me, a Clinton supporter, the most.

Hopefully that continues through the general, with the press hating Clinton and loving Rubio.

I’m a little surprised Bush dropped out. He’s doing what establishment candidates do–dropping out when he knows his continued campaigning will not win the nomination and just muddies the waters. He’s also probably doing what’s good for the party. That being said, given how bad I think Trump and Cruz are as GOP nominee options, part of me thought Bush would stay in for ages just in the hope he could influence the campaign away from the “crazy wing” of the party. But I guess in the end the more hardboiled, traditional political analyst view of it was what informed his decision.

I think the GOP establishment has a better chance of consolidating now, but a lot will depend on what Kasich decides to do. Of course unfortunately the establishment is going to coalesce on an inexperienced Senator with far right views who in a normal world would be the zany right-wing candidate.

Does Jeb has a preference of the three main remaining candidates? I wouldn’t be surprised if he realized that still being a candidate for the Florida primary might siphon votes from his preferred candidate and result in someone else winning the state - and the 99 winner-take-all delegates that go with it.