Face in the News: Republican candidates finish a rough South Carolina Primary; Bernie Sanders comes off of a disappointing loss in Nevada
WASHINGTON (CBS News) - As voting came to an end in South Carolina for the Republicans and Nevada for the Democrats, many of the remaining candidates on both sides of the aisle appeared on this week's broadcast of Face the Nation. We spoke with the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, after a commanding win in South Carolina. Trump, spoke about his chances throughout the rest of the primaries and his recent feud with Pope Francis.
We also spoke with the following two finishers from the top three in South Carolina, Florida senator Marco Rubio and Texas senator Ted Cruz. Rubio appeared optimistic of his chances to clinch the Republican nomination after former Florida governor, Jeb Bush's exit from the 2016 race and Cruz called out Rubio and Trump for attacking his integrity. On the Democratic side we spoke with Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders after his loss in Nevada to former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Sanders assured host John Dickerson that he intends to do well in the upcoming Democratic Primary contest in South Carolina and the upcoming Super Tuesday contests.
Leading up to the Primary in South Carolina, Republican candidates engaged in heated exchanges and often very personal attacks. On Sunday's broadcast, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, appeared much more humble and strayed away from insulting his fellow candidates. When Face the Nation host John Dickerson asked Trump if this was his election to lose, the businessman responded by complementing the rest of the field.
"Look, I'm dealing with very, very talented people, smart people, good people," Trump said and added, "we still have competition."
Trump also hesitated to declare that he would be the Republican nomination saying, "I don't want to say it's mine. Certainly I'm leading, there's no question about that, but we've got a long way to go."
During our interview with Donald Trump, he was asked about his recent back and forth with Pope Francis. Trump told John Dickerson that he was "in a state of shock," when he heard the news that Pope Francis had spoken about his immigration policy during a trip to Mexico, but said in the end the exchange turned out to be "neutral," between he and the Pope.
"The Pope was very nice," Trump said. "Yesterday the Pope issued a very nice statement and I appreciated it."
Our interview with Donald Trump made headlines in The Las Vegas Sun, The Washington Post, The LA Times, Real Clear Politics, NJ.com, Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, CNN, The Hill, Sky News, The Chicago Tribune, Mediaiteand Yahoo Politics.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) also appeared on Sunday's broadcast and said he felt confident that he would secure the Republican nomination, despite failing to finish first in any of the three states where voting has already occurred. Rubio told Dickerson that as candidates dropped out, voters would come to support him and stated that an overwhelming amount of Republican voters are anti- Trump.
"Part of the dynamic up to this point is Donald has been in the mid 30's to low 30's, high 20s in most polls and then you have 70% of the Republican electorate that says, 'We're not voting for him,' but they're divided up among five or seven people." The Florida senator said and added, "As that five or seven people continues to narrow down, I think it's going make the race clearer and clearer."
Rubio also explained that as the Republican race gets smaller and smaller, Donald Trump will have to begin detailing his policy proposals saying, "I think strong rhetoric and strong action are two separate things. Anyone can use tough words, anyone can go over the top and say things that sound strong, but sounding strong is not enough. You have to know exactly how you're going to do it."
Both Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio have criticized Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) of lying about their records and making stuff up. Cruz, however, said that his two Republican rivals had been attacking him instead.
"There's no doubt that both Donald and Marco got very personal, got very nasty." Cruz said. "They scream, 'Liar, liar, liar,' they impugn your integrity, they attack your character. And as you know, from the very beginning of this campaign, nearly a year now, I have consistently refused to respond in kind."
Our interviews with Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz made news in The Boston Globe, Reuters, AP, The Orlando Sentinel, The Hill, International Business Times, The Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, The Observer, Houston Chronicle, Florida Politics, USA Today and Bloomberg News.
On the Democratic side we spoke to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders after a disappointing loss to Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton in Nevada on Saturday night. Sanders has noticeably shifted his attention to the states that vote on Super Tuesday, although the South Carolina Primaries are next for the Democrats. When asked if he was skipping over South Carolina, Sanders denied it.
"I'm talking to you from Columbia, South Carolina, we have a major rally this evening, we're not skipping over anything." The Vermont senator said, but added "I think that after South Carolina, we have 11 states; we stand a good chance of winning a number of those states."
Our interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders was covered by AP, Politico, The Hartford Courant, The Hill, Bloomberg, The Charlotte Observer and The Chicago Tribune.