Could defeat in South Carolina end the Bernie Sanders campaign?
Bernie Sanders is expected to suffer a crushing defeat Saturday as South Carolina voters take to the polls.
In a move that many observers regard as an admission of defeat, the Vermont senator left the state Saturday morning to focus on battles to come in other parts of the country.
If the polls are right, and Hillary Clinton cruises to victory in South Carolina, is the Democratic race over?
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 completely count out Sanders,鈥� said Geoffrey Skelley, political analyst at the University of Virginia鈥檚 Center for Politics, in a telephone interview with 海角大神. 鈥淐linton still has this FBI investigation hanging over her.鈥�
Besides, South Carolina was always going to be a more challenging proposition for the Vermont senator than previous states, considering its racial make-up, note observers. Senator Sanders is fighting 鈥渁gainst the perception that he comes from a state that is 99 per cent white, despite his considerable efforts at ,鈥� notes the Independent.
鈥淚f we win South Carolina, I think it does start to make people look at the race a little differently,鈥� said Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, a past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus who has made four trips to South Carolina to campaign for Mrs. Clinton.
鈥淚 think Sanders will stay in the race for a while, but I think as we start to go into more states where the population is more diverse, it鈥檚聽,鈥� she told Politico.
Sanders admitted that South Carolina is a 鈥渉ard state for us, no ifs, buts, and maybes,鈥� reported The Washington Post.
Her strong showing in 2008 gave her a leg up, he said. 鈥淪he has names of many tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who supported her. You start off with that, you have those votes in the bank, and you go on,鈥� Sanders said.
鈥淵ou know what? I started off without one person voting for us. , and that鈥檚 hard stuff. Hillary Clinton has very strong roots in the African American community. We have had to build those roots,鈥� he said.
The 聽reflect this, showing Clinton leading by an average of 36 points.
So it was that Saturday morning bore witness to Mr. Sanders making for the horizon, boarding a plane to whisk him away to Texas, one of more than 10 states to cast their ballots on March 1st, Super Tuesday.
Sanders is fighting an uphill battle in the Lone Star state as well, with giving Clinton leads of anywhere between 29 and 40 points.
Are Texas and South Carolina bellwethers for the rest of the country?
Real Clear Politics reports that most surveys over the past week gave Sanders only two substantive leads 鈥撀爋ne in his home state of Vermont, the other in West Virginia 鈥撀燼s well as a one point lead in Wisconsin.
Clinton leads in a staggering 26 opinion polls stretching across 14 states, from Texas, Florida and Georgia, up through the Carolinas and New Jersey, all the way to Massachusetts, Michigan, and Illinois.
If South Carolina delivers Clinton a big win, it could heal the wounds from her battle against then-Sen. Barack Obama eight years ago, as well as launch her toward her long-coveted prize: the Democratic nomination.
鈥淚n the final days before Saturday鈥檚 primary, Clinton鈥檚 rival, Bernie Sanders, has ,鈥� writes Molly Ball in The Atlantic. 鈥淗e has tried mightily to win here鈥攊t just hasn鈥檛 worked. As a result, this state, and the black vote, may prove as fatal to his candidacy as they did to Clinton鈥檚 in 2008.鈥�
Polls close at 7 p.m. in South Carolina, the last state to vote before Super Tuesday.
