The GOP Establishment Will Not Find Salvation in South Carolina

I said "principled conservative" moron! Do you see a "neo" on that sign anywhere?

(Slate) - A week ago, the Republican establishment thought it had found a savior. Sen. Marco Rubio, fresh from his third-place finish in Iowa, had momentum and was doing well in general-election polls. Mainstream Republicans were ready to coalesce behind him. The prospect of having to nominate Sen. Ted Cruz or Donald Trump—who finished first and second in Iowa, respectively—seemed to be receding.

New Hampshire dashed these hopes. Trump won big, and Rubio fell to fifth place. The Florida senator trailed two other mainstream candidates, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Rubio even lost to Cruz, who came in third despite investing only $500,000 in an inhospitable state. That result, combined with the terrain ahead, spells big trouble for the GOP. Polls in South Carolina, which votes next on Feb. 20, make a strong case that Trump and Cruz will finish first and second, shutting out Rubio and Bush again. The Trump-Cruz stranglehold on the nomination is tightening...

If Trump and Cruz finish first and second in South Carolina, that will be the third straight contest in which they’ve outpolled Rubio and Bush. Donors and party leaders, desperate to stop a Trump or Cruz nomination, will scramble for an alternative. But the list of alternatives will narrow in the cruelest way. There will be one candidate who can stop Trump, and another who can stop Cruz. Their names, respectively, will be Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Read more.