AP/Politico The heat turned up last night. The Democrats took on each other in Nevada, while the Republicans battled it out in South Carolina. As they will now exchange states, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump can be the happiest and most relaxed. They both won last night, a nd have good chances of repeating this feast in the next vote too! Bernie Sanders had a late surge, but Hillary edged him out, while Trump comfortably won ahead of Rubio. But Rubio did beat Cruz which is terribly loss for the Texan, and we also said goodbye to someone last night. This is what happened on February 20th.





Hillary Clinton won in Nevada. But for months her campaign have been saying that this is where they will definitely crush Bernie. And he will be over. Well a 52-48 win is anything but a crush, and Bernie Sanders will not quit for sure. Hillary did win, and we do congratulate her for it! A win is a win. But Bernie proved that he is not only a viable candidate where it is mostly only white people that live and vote. Bernie actually beat Hillary among the Latino voters, although he did loose badly among the African American base. He however proved that he is in it to win it, and that this race could go on for months.





South Carolina though will be hard for him. Clinton still has a substantial lead, especially among the African-American vote, but it has been slowly narrowing. Bernie now needs to pour a lot of resources into that state, and get as close as possible. Clinton is still expected to win there, but even a close race will prove that Bernie is in fact electable too, and that it is not only about Hillary. Then on the March 1st primaries, Bernie can win some more states.





Hillary needs to prove that she is taking him seriously, and is not only prepping for the General Election already. She has a lot of money and resources, and she is still the best situated to win, but she can no longer act as if she is unbreakable. The next debate will be essential for both campaigns.





On the Republican's side in South Carolina, a lot of questions were answered. Donald Trump won the state easily, and what is the most important conclusion for him, is that he was able to win among all the main categories, even among the Evangelicals. Donald Trump is now really the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, and it is looking harder and harder for anyone to catch him. If anyone can it will be Marco Rubio, or maybe Ted Cruz. It is also by the way a a fact now, that the next President of the United States will be either one of these three men or Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. It is amazing to see how the race narrowed.





Florida Senator Marco Rubio came in second, which was a great result for him and a huge defeat for Ted Cruz. Rubio received the backing of the state's popular governor, Nikki Haley, and several other key local endorsements, so a strong result was expected. He also destroyed Jeb Bush, but we will talk about that later on. And now with reports of Mitt Romney getting ready to endorse him, this is the ultimate sign that the party got behind Rubio last night. We like John Kasich, we think he is a very sensible man and a traditional candidate, but at this point he is just holding back Rubio. Carson too. The field has technically narrowed down to three candidates, but currently there are 5. The sooner they leave the better. But Trump and Cruz will benefit too from their departure.





Ted Cruz on the other hand, had a disappointing night. South Carolina was a state that was made for him, just like Iowa. Yet, even Marco Rubio beat him here. And even among the Evangelicals. This is not a good sign for him as we go into a set of Southern primaries in March. He needs to improve, or he will get smashed in between Trump and Rubio.





Kasich and Carson did ok, but it is very hard to see what Nevada and beyond will be able to do for them. We don't expect them to stay in the race much longer, as money will also dry up. March should really be about three men only.





The full Republican results from last night:

New York Times





We will discuss Governor Bush's decision, our new endorsement and how the race will change now in the next few days, as we wait for the dust to settle. But one thing is for sure, this will be now be an even more exciting race to watch!

This is an original material of Finchley 1959.