Are Trump And Clinton Victories A Sign Of Things To Come?

NPR's Don Gonyea previews what's next in the presidential primaries after a decisive victory for Donald Trump in South Carolina and Hillary Clinton taking Nevada.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. We're going to take another look at last night's election results in the 2016 race for president. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton scored an important win, but Bernie Sanders is not going away.

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HILLARY CLINTON: Is this a great night or what? We just won Nevada.

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BERNIE SANDERS: The wind is on - at our backs. We have the momentum.

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MARTIN: Clinton is hoping to shut down that momentum as the Democrats move to South Carolina this week. South Carolina helped shape the Republican race last night as Trump finished first, Rubio second, and Ted Cruz took third place.

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TED CRUZ: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have given the voters a clear, defined choice.

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MARCO RUBIO: After tonight, this has become a three-person race, and we will win the nomination.

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DONALD TRUMP: Let's have a big win in Nevada. Let's have a big win at the SEC. Let's put this thing away.

MARTIN: The question for the GOP after Donald Trump's win last night is whether he has effectively locked up the nomination. NPR National Political Correspondent Don Gonyea is just off the plane from South Carolina, and he is in the studio with me now. Welcome back, Don.

DON GONYEA, BYLINE: I'm hearing that tape, I'm having flashbacks. But it was only yesterday, so (laughter).

MARTIN: (Laughter) It was only yesterday. OK, have another sip of coffee.

GONYEA: Yes.

MARTIN: So Donald Trump has won New Hampshire, northern state, South Carolina, southern state. If history's any guide, there should be little doubt now about his chances to win the nomination. So is that the case for Republicans looking forward to the next couple of big primaries?

GONYEA: Well, that's certainly the argument Donald Trump makes. Look, no Republican has won those two states - New Hampshire and now South Carolina - and not gone on to win the nomination. So you have to look at Donald Trump - astounding it is to say it, as astounding as it, you know, seemed to us, you know, just a few months ago - as the front-runner. But Ted Cruz - let's talk about Ted Cruz for a moment. He has a really big win - big opportunity for a win coming up in Texas. It's his home state. It's March first. It's on that Super Tuesday day. It's really critical for him. It's a place - it's one of the few places where actually he leads in the polls. But here's what has to scare him. Donald Trump beat him among evangelical voters, despite the hard, hard pitch that Cruz made for them in South Carolina.

MARTIN: What about Marco Rubio? Now that Jeb Bush is out, it would seem that he would be the person around whom the establishment, so-called, can coalesce.

GONYEA: It feels like that will happen. And when you talk to people anecdotally, you kind of think that will happen. He's hoping to pick up every single person who supported Jeb Bush. He's already getting a lot of Jeb Bush's money people, people to help him raise money and all that. And he will probably do very well among Jeb Bush supporters. But John Kasich is still that kind of nagging character out there, the governor of Ohio. He didn't do well yesterday in South Carolina, but he's looking ahead to Ohio - his home state, votes March 15. He'll be in at least until then. But also before that, Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota - places where he could still do well and create problems for Rubio.

MARTIN: So we have about a minute left. Talk about the Democrats if you would. We know that Hillary Clinton won last night, the first primary with a more diverse electorate. What does that tell us about the path for both candidates moving forward?

GONYEA: Here's the thing. The exit polls - or entrance polls, technically, they were - tell us that Bernie Sanders won the Latino vote. And that's a little bit shocking to the Clinton camp. And they actually disputed. She, in 2008, running against Barack Obama, won the Latino vote 2 to 1. She's already in Texas working on that vote going forward. She did win three-quarters of the African-American vote. That is really critical for her. South Carolina is a majority African-American Democratic primary coming up. If she can replicate that, she can start to get a ball rolling, and more states look good in that regard for her.

MARTIN: All right, that's NPR's Don Gonyea. Don Gonyea, thank you.

GONYEA: Thank you.

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