John Locher / AP
Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucus Saturday, strengthening her position heading into South Carolina's Democratic primary.
With more than 60% of caucuses reporting, Clinton led Sanders 52.2% to 47.7%. But Clinton’s close-call victory in Nevada was a far cry from what her campaign had previously considered a firewall to Sanders’ momentum, which has continued to gain steam in recent months as the young and disaffected gravitate to his populist message.
In a tweet posted shortly after the outcome was called, Clinton thanked her supporters for their determination.
Saturday also capped a tightly wound state campaign due to the Nevada’s somewhat complicated caucus system in which voters do not need to be pre-register as Democrats to participate. That prompted worries and rumors that Republicans would take advantage of the system and register voters and caucus with the Democrats for Sanders, and both camps had teams of lawyers and elections experts at the ready.
With a win in Nevada, Clinton now looks ahead to the Feb. 27 South Carolina primary with more steam behind her message on Sanders: That the Vermont senator’s appeal is limited to a relatively narrow swath of voters.
People line up to participate in the Democratic caucus at the University of Nevada.
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
As opposed to New Hampshire and Iowa, the Nevada caucus is seen as a more accurate assessment of a candidate’s appeal to a more diverse electorate, and thus, the rest of nation. Nearly half of Nevada’s transient population is non-white: 28% Latino, 9% African American, and 9% Asian-American / Pacific Islander, according to Nevada State Democratic Party.
In South Carolina, nearly 28% of the population is black and 5% Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — though nearly half of the last two open Democratic primaries have featured an electorate that is approximately half black.
Clinton leads by a significant margin in South Carolina, and among black voters. A win there would put the wind at Clinton’s back going into March, when the majority of states hold their primaries.
LINK: After Iowa, Fears Of Yet Another Caucus Disaster In Nevada Fill Democratic Chatter
LINK: Live Updates: Nevada Caucus and South Carolina Primary
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/1KySoiE
0 comments:
Post a Comment