Republican Voters In SC, Democrats In Nevada In Spotlight

The spotlight for the presidential race turns to Republicans in South Carolina and Democrats in Nevada on Saturday. Since starting the first-in-the-South primary in 1980, South Carolina Republicans have prided themselves in picking the eventual GOP nominee. But that streak ended in 2012 when Newt Gingrich won the state with 40 percent of the vote to Mitt Romney's 28 percent. South Carolina's polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The caucuses in Nevada began about 11 a.m. local time with Hillary Clinton beating Bernie Sanders, just like she beat Barack Obama in 2008.

Here are snapshots of voters who went to the polls or caucused Saturday:

------

Joe Polek started out as a Ben Carson supporter and when he started struggling considered Ted Cruz, then Donald Trump. But the businessman lost Polek's vote at last weekend's debate.

"He totally turned me off, the way he dealt with the other candidates, the things he said about 9/11, about George W. Bush, about weapons of mass destruction -- to me, everything he was saying was lining up with what the liberals are saying. If I were to close my eyes, it could have been Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders saying it," the fast-food restaurant marking director said.

So Polek voted for Marco Rubio, disappointing his 8-year-old daughter, a Jeb Bush backer.

"She said that she really liked that his brother and his father were president. I tried to explain to her that, because his brother and his father were president, that's why some people really don't want him to be the next president," Polek said.

------

Before he went into caucus at the New York-New York hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Rodolfo Sanabia was 75 percent sure he would pick Hillary Clinton.

Sanabia, 33, had been working for five hours already and was dressed in his bellman's uniform with orange luggage tags coming out of his pockets. He was born in Mexico City and became a citizen of the United States 14 years ago. But he worried about family members that remain in this country illegally and thinks Clinton is the best person to find a way to let them stay.

"I'm scared for my family. They are hardworking people, good people," Sanabia said. "I'm here for them."

------

Bernie Sanders might be 52 years older than University of Nevada, Reno student Chris Sexton, but the 22-year-old music performance major can see himself in the Vermont senator.

"I saw a photograph of him the other day protesting and getting arrested in college when he looked like he was our age," Sexton said. "So it's nice to have someone we can relate to."

Sexton said he also liked Sanders' support for `free education and raising workers' wages."

------

Jeb Bush's experience and his attempts to not attack other Republicans won over Wanda Herendeen.

"That's devastating," the 62-year-old office assistant said of a primary campaign that has seen other candidates repeatedly call each other liars. "We've heard too much of that. It's time to move on, and I think that he's capable of taking us through this."

Herendeen's 57-year-old engineer husband backed Bush, too.

"Looking at some of the other candidates, just felt like they weren't prepared to step into the presidency," he said after voting at the Boyd Hill Recreation Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

------

Steve Wilbourne used the process of elimination to eventually pick John Kasich.

The 46-year-old owner of a financial software company started off knowing he couldn't vote for Donald Trump.

"(Ben) Carson is my favorite in the race but I don't think he'll make it through the election. As much as I like the Bush family, I think that's played. And I think Marco Rubio is too young. So it came down to (Ted) Cruz and Kasich, and I think Kasich is someone who can unite the country and win the general election," Wilbourne said at an armory in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

------

JoAnne Peden has been voting for Democrats since casting her first ballot for John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Saturday's decision to back Hillary Clinton at a caucus in Reno, Nevada, was simple for the documentary filmmaker. Clinton has connections to Democrats currently in power.

"I see no problem continuing President Obama's policies. I think he's been a remarkable president given the opposition he had to deal with," Peden said.

------

(Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)