Republican Presidential Campaign Heads to South Carolina, With No Clear Republican Challenge to Donald Trump

Lindsey Graham is on Fox with Bill Hemmer right now, talking about South Carolina, and calling Donald Trump "an absolute disaster for the Republican Party."

Blah, blah.

Perhaps the voters down there disagree.

And Graham's shilling for Jeb, which about makes me puke.

At the New York Times, "Race Goes to South Carolina, With No Clear Republican Threat to Trump":

COLUMBIA, S.C. — With Donald J. Trump’s decisive victory in New Hampshire and no strong runner-up among a pack of also-rans, the Republican race barreled into South Carolina on Wednesday shadowed by a question: whether any alternative candidate can gain enough support to threaten Mr. Trump’s drive to the nomination.

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, the second-place finisher in New Hampshire with less than half the support of Mr. Trump, arrives in this more conservative Southern state where he has little staff or support. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, resuming an effort here to enlist the Christian right, the key to his victory in Iowa, faces a playing field where evangelical voters are far less monolithic. And former Gov. Jeb Bush, buoyed by outperforming his Florida rival Senator Marco Rubio, has a chance to open more daylight — but it is unclear if it will be enough to inspire establishment-leaning Republicans to coalesce behind him.

On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders’s idealistic message, which inspired a decisive victory in New Hampshire over Hillary Clinton, faces a sharp test in South Carolina, where Democrats are more moderate and demographically diverse.

Mr. Trump is quite likely to face a kind of scrutiny here he has so far avoided: The only Republican candidate who does not favor increased military spending, he must woo a state with eight bases and 58,000 military retirees. His Vietnam War draft deferments may also be an issue.

While Mr. Trump has led in every poll in South Carolina since July, Mr. Bush has invested substantial resources here. His aides say 1,000 volunteers have knocked on doors at more than 50,000 homes. His brother, former President George W. Bush, who is expected to campaign alongside him here, appeared in an ad in South Carolina during the Super Bowl, declaring, “Jeb Bush is a leader who will keep our country safe.”

“The commander-in-chief question is going to be a big one,” said Jim Dyke, a senior adviser to Mr. Bush here. “If you look at exit polls from 2008 and 2012, in both elections about 25 percent identified as active military or had served in the military.”

Maybe Jebbie will pull out the Barbara Bush "big guns" to rally the rubes in South Carolina. You want a "disaster for the Republican Party"? Nominate Jeb for a third Bush term. It's sickening.