Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has won three more states – Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii – in his bid for the White House nomination.
In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders had a surprise victory in Michigan, but Hillary Clinton increased her overall lead with a big Mississippi win.
Republican Ted Cruz won in Idaho.
The states are the latest to choose candidates to compete in November’s presidential election.
Photo AP
It was a terrible night for Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who came in a distant fourth in both Michigan and Mississippi, a week before his must-win contest in his home state.
Donald Trump, a businessman with no experience of elected office, leads the polls in Florida, from where he delivered his victory speech on March 8.
“One of the things I am most happy about is the turnout has been just massive… I think it’s the single biggest story in politics today,” the billionair said at a press conference in Jupiter.
Donald Trump also said he would be more presidential than anybody except Abraham Lincoln and that “no one is more conservative than me”.
The Democratic opponent Donald Trump is most likely to face if he gets the Republican nomination, Hillary Clinton, addressed voters in Ohio after her Mississippi win.
“Running for president shouldn’t be about delivering insults,” said Hillary Clinton, in a thinly veiled dig at the outspoken Donald Trump.
“It should be about delivering results.”
Bernie Sanders’ win in Michigan came as a shock after weeks of polling that suggested Hillary Clinton was well ahead.
“I am grateful to the people of Michigan for defying the pundits and pollsters and giving us their support,” Bernie Sanders said in a statement following his win.
“This is a critically important night. We came from 30 points down in Michigan and we’re seeing the same kind of come-from-behind momentum all across America.”
Analysts say conservative firebrand Ted Cruz appears to be the only candidate capable of stopping Donald Trump, who has been fiercely criticized by the Republican establishment.
The party’s 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, described Donald Trump as a bully and a fraud who would lose a general election because of his extreme positions on immigration and Islamic State.
A central plank of Donald Trump’s campaign is to deport 11 million undocumented migrants and build a wall on the southern border, paid for by Mexico.
The primary and caucus elections determine the number of delegates assigned to each of the candidates.
The delegates then endorse their candidate at the party conventions in July. To secure their party’s nomination, a candidate must win a majority of delegates.
Democrat Bernie Sanders has won the Maine caucuses, beating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination race.
With 91% of the vote counted, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is polling 64%, while former Hillary Clinton has 36%.
In the Republican race, Marco Rubio easily won Puerto Rico’s primary, beating Donald Trump.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump remain overall leaders in the nomination campaigns.
On March 6, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clash on a number of issues in a CNN-hosted debate in Flint, Michigan.
They traded accusations on economy and trade, with Hillary Clinton saying her rival voted against a bailout of the US car industry in 2009.
Photo Getty Images
“I went with them. You did not. If everybody had voted the way he [Bernie Sanders] did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking four million jobs with it,” Hillary Clinton said.
Bernie Sanders countered by saying: “I will be damned if it was the working people of this country who have to bail out the crooks on Wall Street.”
He described the measures taken at the time as “the Wall Street bailout where some of your [Hillary Clinton’s] friends destroyed this economy”.
During March 5 voting, Bernie Sanders took two states – Kansas and Nebraska – but Hillary Clinton maintained her Democratic front-runner status after a big victory in Louisiana.
While the win in Puerto Rico will boost Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s campaign, it sends just 23 delegates to the Republican convention which nominates a presidential candidate.
Republican hopefuls need the votes of 1,237 delegates to get the nod for the presidential race proper.
Marco Rubio still trails well behind Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Speaking after wins in the Republican Kentucky caucuses and Louisiana primary election on Saturday, Donald Trump told a news conference: “I would love to take on Ted Cruz one on one.”
“Marco Rubio had a very very bad night and personally I call for him to drop out of the race. I think it’s time now that he dropped out of the race. I really think so.”
Ted Cruz – who won Republican caucuses in Kansas and Maine – said he believed that “as long as the field remains divided, it gives Donald an advantage”.
Republican Donald Trump has called for a “one-on-one” battle with Ted Cruz, urging other rivals to quit the nomination race.
Ted Cruz also suggested it was time for other hopefuls, like Marco Rubio and John Kasich, to step aside.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz won two states each in March 5 voting.
Photo Getty Images
In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders took two states – but Hillary Clinton maintained her front-runner status after a big victory in Louisiana.
Speaking after wins in the Republican Kentucky caucuses and Louisiana primary election, Donald Trump told a news conference: “I would love to take on Ted Cruz one on one.”
“Marco Rubio had a very very bad night and personally I call for him to drop out of the race. I think it’s time now that he dropped out of the race. I really think so.”
Meanwhile, Texas Senator Ted Cruz – who won Republican caucuses in Kansas and Maine – said he believed that “as long as the field remains divided, it gives Donald an advantage”.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Ohio Governor John Kasich have so far made no public comments on the issue.
Ted Cruz now appears to be the only candidate who can stop Donald Trump, analysts say, after a week in which the Republican establishment did everything it could to attack the New York billionaire.
Observers also point out that Ted Cruz and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders – who beat Hillary Clinton in Kansas and Nebraska – both won in states holding caucuses but lost in the Louisiana primary elections, involving far more voters.
They say that the Louisiana race also appears to have exposed Bernie Sanders’ lack of support among African-American voters.
Hillary Clinton said she was thrilled to add to her delegate count.
The former secretary of state said: “No matter who wins this Democratic nomination, I have not the slightest doubt that on our worst day we will be infinitely better than the Republicans on their best day.”
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have each won the most states on Super Tuesday.
The count is still on but Donald Trump has so far won seven states, compared with only two taken by his closest rival, Ted Cruz, and one by Marco Rubio.
Speaking in his home state of Texas, Ted Cruz urged other Republicans to quit the race and join him against Donald Trump.
Democrat Bernie Sanders has won in four states.
Super Tuesday saw 11 states voting, from Massachusetts in the east to Alaska in the north-west. A 12th state, Colorado, held a caucus – won by Bernie Sanders – but does not actually select its delegates until April.
Super Tuesday allocates nearly a quarter of Republican delegates, and about a fifth of Democratic delegates, who will elect their respective presidential candidates at party conventions in July. No candidate has yet won enough delegates to secure their party’s nomination.
Democrat Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, and Republican Donald Trump, a property tycoon, entered Super Tuesday as favorites to win the vast majority of states for their respective parties.
In a victory speech, Hillary Clinton appeared to already be looking towards a potential presidential race against Donald Trump, saying: “The stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we’re hearing on the other side has never been lower.”
Donald Trump insisted that he was a “unifier” who could put internal fighting in the Republican Party behind him.
“Once we get all this finished, I’m going after one person – Hillary Clinton,” he told reporters in Florida, where he has been campaigning ahead of the state’s vote later this month.
Donald Trump insisted he had “expanded the Republican party”, referring to higher turnout from a broad demographic in states that have already voted.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz desperately needed to win in his home state to have any chance of staying in the race.
Pointing to his three primary wins against Donald Trump to date in the season, he told Republicans: “I ask you to prayerfully consider our coming together, united.”
Donald Trump has stunned the Republican establishment to become the party’s front-runner.
He has faced heavy criticism this week over his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him.
Donald Trump later said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed David Duke.
Hillary Clinton had already secured three wins in the first four early voting states, polling significantly among blocs of black voters.
Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has put up an unexpectedly strong challenge against her since his sweeping victory in New Hampshire last month.
Addressing cheering supporters at his victory speech in Vermont, Bernie Sanders aimed a jibe at the Republican front-runner saying: “We are not going to let the Donald Trumps of the world divide us.”
The proportion of votes won equates to the number of delegates who will then go on to the Democratic and Republican parties’ national conventions in July to officially choose the nominees for the presidency.
The election itself, on November 8, will see America vote for a successor to Barack Obama.
US presidential candidates face their biggest test yet in the so-called Super Tuesday primaries.
Twelve states cast votes for candidates from either the Republican or Democratic parties or both in a contest seen as make-or-break for the hopefuls.
Contests stretch from Vermont in the east to Texas and Georgia in the south.
After earlier votes in four states, Donald Trump leads the Republican field and Hillary Clinton the Democratic.
The first polls opened in Virginia at 06:00 local time.
Senator Ted Cruz cannot afford to lose to Donald Trump in Texas, his home state, while a reverse for Trump in Massachusetts, with its moderate voters, could break the property tycoon’s nationwide momentum.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is hoping to build on her weekend victory in South Carolina, where she polled heavily among African-Americans, to restore her political fortunes after a bruising defeat in New Hampshire to Bernie Sanders, her self-styled democratic socialist rival.
On November 8, America is due to elect a successor to Barack Obama, a Democratic president standing down after two terms in office which have seen the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress.
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has won the South Carolina primary, cementing his status as the man to beat for GOP’s nomination.
In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton beat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a tight race in Nevada.
Both results will be key ahead of the “Super Tuesday” round on March 1, when a dozen more states make their choice.
Donald Trump’s victory claimed a major scalp when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush dropped out of the race.
Jeb Bush finished a distant fourth, days after his brother, former President George W. Bush, made a rare political appearance to boost his flagging campaign.
Republican senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were locked in a battle for second place in the state.
Photo Getty Images
“There’s nothing easy about running for president,” Donald Trump said at his victory rally in Spartanburg on Saturday evening.
“It’s tough, it’s nasty, it’s mean, it’s vicious. It’s beautiful – when you win it’s beautiful.”
Donald Trump’s supporters erupted at his campaign headquarters when the projected results were announced.
His campaign has been dogged in controversy, with his latest spat with Pope Francis on Christian values hitting the headlines this week.
Thousands of miles west, Hillary Clinton narrowly beat Bernie Sanders, who had beaten her convincingly in New Hampshire in their last contest.
“Some may have doubted us, but we never doubted each other,” Hillary Clinton told supporters at a victory rally in Las Vegas.
“This is your campaign.”
The battle between them has grown increasingly close in recent weeks, with Hillary Clinton expected to win Nevada in double digits just weeks ago.
However, Ted Cruz, who has successfully galvanized young voters with his calls for free university education, appears to have performed better than expected among Hispanics in Nevada.
According to NBC exit polls, Bernie Sanders won among Hispanics with 53% of the vote but lost among black voters earning just 22% of their vote.
Hillary Clinton’s next test will be in the Democrats’ South Carolina primary on February 27. Republicans will hold their own caucuses in Nevada on February 23.
Once each state has voted in the primaries or caucuses, the delegates won by each party candidate will go on to endorse them at party conventions in July.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over support for President Barack Obama in their first debate since the New Hampshire primary.
The former secretary of state sought to cast herself as the protector of Barack Obama’s legacy, sharply attacking Senator Bernie Sanders for criticizing the president.
“The kind of criticism I hear from Senator Sanders, I expect from Republicans,” Hillary Clinton said.
Nevada and South Carolina, states with large minority populations, vote next.
At the PBS NewsHour televised debate, Hillary Clinton repeatedly emphasized her ties to Barack Obama who is extremely popular among minority voters.
Meanwhile, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took pains to tailor to his message of economic fairness to address disparities in black communities.
Hillary Clinton also stressed her pragmatism, questioning Bernie Sanders’ pledges to provide universal healthcare and free higher education.
“We have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for which is why we can’t make promises we can’t keep,” Hillary Clinton said.
Immigration reform was also a major topic of discussion. Both Democratic candidates supported creating a path to citizenship for the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US and they decried a recent uptick in deportations by the Obama administration.
Criticizing the anti-immigrant positions of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders said immigrants should not be scapegoats for economic uncertainty.
“We have got to stand up to the Trumps of the world, who are trying to divide us,” the senator said.
Hillary Clinton is trying to rebuild her campaign after Bernie Sanders decisively won the New Hampshire primary.
She received a much-needed endorsement from an influential bloc of black Democrats in Congress on February 11.
Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary by 22 percentage points and lost the Iowa caucuses narrowly, but both states have nearly all-white populations.
He now faces the challenge of finding votes among the sizable Latino and black electorates in Nevada and South Carolina.
Hillary Clinton has strong support among Latinos and African-Americans and is expected to do well in the two states.
A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll in South Carolina gave Hillary Clinton a lead of 74 over Bernie Sanders’ 17% among black voters.
On February 11, the political action committee of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton as their Democratic presidential candidate, giving an added boost to her campaign.
“We must have a president that understands the racial divide, not someone who just acquired the knowledge recently but someone…who has lived it and worked through it down through the years,” CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield told reporters on February 11.
Recognizing the need to do more to court the black vote, Bernie Sanders met civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York on February 10.
However, Al Sharpton declined to say which candidate he would back after the meeting.
It is still unclear who the winner of the Democratic contest will face in the Republican race, with Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz finishing first, second and third in the New Hampshire primary.
Both Republican and Democratic parties will formally name their presidential candidates at conventions in July.
Americans will finally go to the polls to choose the new occupant of the White House in November.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have won the presidential race in the New Hampshire primary.
Republican Donald Trump is likely to get more than twice the number of votes of the next Republican candidate.
Democrat Bernie Sanders, who beat rival Hillary Clinton by a huge margin, said his victory showed people wanted “real change”.
Both candidates are riding on a wave of discontent with mainstream politics.
Ohio Governor John Kasich came second in the Republican vote, with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio all vying for third place.
New Hampshire is the second state to choose delegates in the long nomination battle following last week’s Iowa caucuses, which were won by Ted Cruz for the Republicans and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats.
The result gives momentum to the winners ahead of the next contests in South Carolina and Nevada.
Donald Trump’s lead in New Hampshire is the first time the New York billionaire – who has never held elected office – has translated his widespread support in opinion polls into a victory at the polls.
In his victory speech, Donald Trump congratulated Democratic winner Bernie Sanders but sideswiped that “he wants to give away our country, folks!”.
Donald Trump, 69, has pledged to deport millions of migrants who are living in the US illegally; build a wall along the border with Mexico; and impose a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the country.
With close to 90% of the votes counted, Senator Bernie Sanders has a lead of more than 20 percentage points over Hilton Clinton in the two-horse race for the Democratic nomination. He had topped polls in New Hampshire in recent months, but it is still a significant victory for the self-described Democratic socialist candidate.
“What the people here have said is that given the enormous crises facing our country, it is just too late for the same old, same old establishment politics and establishment economics,” Bernie Sanders said in speech to his supporters late on February 9.
Bernie Sanders, 74, has vowed to eradicate income inequality, provide free university education and break up big banks.
Hillary Clinton congratulated Bernie Sanders, but said in a speech she would continue to fight for every vote in the campaign. Despite the setback, she still remains the frontrunner for the nomination.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, said in a memo that they expected the race for the Democratic nomination “very likely” to be decided in March.
The former secretary of state acknowledged before the polls that Bernie Sanders had a natural advantage in New Hampshire because he represents the neighboring state of Vermont as senator.
Hillary Clinton, who has more support from the Democratic establishment, narrowly won in Iowa.
Most polls in New Hampshire closed at 19:00 local time, with state officials forecasting a historic turnout in the vote.
They are the first contests in the US presidential race in which states decide who becomes each party’s official candidate.
Republican and Democrat presidential hopefuls have arrived in New Hampshire ahead of the next vote.
Iowa caucuses on February 2 were won by Senator Ted Cruz for the Republicans and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats.
Ted Cruz prevailed despite trailing in opinion polls while Hillary Clinton beat Senator Bernie Sanders by just 0.2%.
New Hampshire is seen as a quite different challenge for the parties.
The state’s more moderate and less religious electorate may prove a tougher nut for Ted Cruz to crack in the primaries it is due to hold on February 9.
Long-time frontrunner Donald Trump is expected to do much better than in Iowa, which held the nation’s first vote.
On the Democrat side, Bernie Sanders is seen as having a home advantage in New Hampshire over Hillary Clinton, being a senator of the neighboring state of Vermont.
The state-by-state voting will culminate in conventions in July, at which the two parties will confirm their choice of candidate to succeed Barack Obama, the Democratic president who is standing down after two terms in office.
Even before Hillary Clinton’s narrow victory was announced officially, Bernie Sanders was up at 05:00 and aboard a flatbed lorry, being greeted by supporters in the New Hampshire town of Bow.
Telling the crowd that his campaign had “astounded the world” in Iowa, Bernie Sanders promised it would “astound the world again” in New Hampshire.
Hillary Clinton is due to address a crowd at a sports stadium in Nashua.
Final results show Hillary Clinton took 49.8% in Iowa to Bernie Sanders’ 49.6%.
Ted Cruz took 26% of the Republican vote to 23% for Donald Trump, but Senator Marco Rubio finished a surprisingly strong third, just slightly behind.
The Texas senator declared his win a “victory for courageous conservatives”.
Many mainstream Republicans favor Marco Rubio, fearful that Ted Cruz and Donald Trump may alienate voters with their combative style.
Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic Iowa caucuses beating Bernie Sanders with only 0.2% of the votes, the final results have shown.
The Democratic Iowa results page has just updated to show 100% of districts now accounted for:
Hillary Clinton 49.8%
Bernie Sanders 49.6%
Martin O’Malley 0.5%
According to SMG Delta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign and supporters spent $9.4 million on Iowa caucus while her fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders’ campaign spent only $7.4 million.
This year’s presidential candidates are to make final pitches to people in Iowa, where the first votes for party nominations will take place later.
Polls suggest that Republican Donald Trump has a narrow lead over Texas Senator Ted Cruz but both are well ahead of the others.
In the Democratic field, the race is slightly tighter, with Hillary Clinton edging ahead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Each party’s nominee will contest the presidential election in November.
Over the weekend, the candidates barnstormed the sparsely populated Midwestern state of Iowa in an attempt to court undecided voters.
Campaigning is expected to continue until voting starts at 19:00 local time on February 1.
Candidates are hoping to triumph in this first electoral test because victory can spark campaign momentum as voting moves to the other states.
Among the wide Republican field, recent polling suggests that Donald Trump has a comfortable, though not certain, lead over his main rival, Ted Cruz.
The Democrats’ far smaller field – three candidates as opposed to 11 – appears to be more competitive.
Frontrunner Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead nationally but in Iowa she is narrowly ahead of self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders.
Iowa has an unusual election system called a caucus, which involves people gathering at sites across the state at 19:00 local time on February 1.
Democratic voters divide themselves into groups based on their preferred candidate but the Republican caucus process is more like a traditional ballot.
The last Republican winner in Iowa who won the party’s nomination was George W. Bush 16 years ago.
One issue that could have implications in Iowa is the weather.
The National Weather Service is currently forecasting a winter storm to strike the area on Monday night.
Candidates are worried that the incoming storm could prevent their voters turning out earlier in the evening.
Donald Trump joked with his supporters on January 30, saying: “You’re from Iowa! Are you afraid of snow?”
Iowan law mandates that it be the first “state, territory, or any other group” to select delegates in the presidential nomination
This first vote in Iowa will be followed in the weeks ahead by more ballots in the 49 other states plus US territories.
Each party’s nominee will be chosen by the summer, and the next president will be elected in November.
The New York Times has announced its endorsements for this year’s presidential race.
The publication endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John Kasich in their bids to become their parties’ presidential candidates.
Hillary Clinton, the liberal daily said in an editorial, is “one of the most broadly and deeply qualified candidates” in modern history.
An outsider in the Republican race, the NYT called John Kasich the “only plausible choice”.
The backing comes days before Iowa voters become first to make their pick.
The NYT backed Hillary Clinton in her losing bid for the presidency against Barack Obama in 2008.
It had praise for Hillary Clinton’s main rival, Bernie Sanders, but the paper said he “does not have the breadth of experience or policy ideas that Mrs. Clinton offers”.
Assessing the Republican field, Saturday’s editorial gave a damning verdict on the two leading contenders.
Frontrunner Donald Trump “has neither experience in nor interest in learning about national security, defense or global trade”, the paper said. Ted Cruz “will say anything to win”.
Instead, the NYT plumped for Ohio Governor John Kasich as “the only plausible choice for Republicans tired of the extremism and inexperience on display in this race”.
John Kasich tweeted he was “proud” to gain the NYT‘s support, even though the paper has been a frequent focus of criticism for US conservatives.
Bernie Sanders has said his judgement is as important as the experience of his rival Hillary Clinton.
During the last Democratic debate in Iowa a week before the selection process begins, Bernie Sanders also admitted that he would raise taxes if he won, adding some families would still be better off.
Hillary Clinton once had a comfortable opinion poll lead in the state.
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are now running neck-and-neck. Martin O’Malley is a distant third.
Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have a clear lead over five other candidates seeking the GOP nomination.
During the CNN’s televised debate in Des Moines, Iowa, at which the three candidates appeared separately, Hillary Clinton praised the “poetry” of Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign but said the country was “governed in prose”.
Photo Getty Images
Her critics “throw all this stuff at me – and I’m still standing”, she said.
The Vermont senator, who has energized young voters with his call for a political revolution, repeated his pledge to “take on the greed of corporate America”.
Bernie Sanders contrasted his own commitment to a “Medicare-for-all” program and free public university tuition to Hillary Clinton’s vote to authorize the Iraq war and early support for the controversial Canada to Texas Keystone pipeline.
Hillary Clinton highlighted her “40-year record in going after inequality” and suggested Bernie Sanders was ill-equipped to face the tough challenge of being president.
She also said she was “really touched and gratified” to see comments from President Barack Obama in a Politico interview, in which he called her “wicked smart” and suggested Bernie Sanders benefited from “the luxury of being a complete long shot”.
Barack Obama has not endorsed any candidate and the Sanders campaign has applauded his “even-handedness” throughout the campaign.
Martin O’Malley, meanwhile, was cheered when he cited climate change as the issue young Americans should be most concerned about.
Democratic candidates have clashed on gun control and healthcare in their liveliest TV debate so far.
Hillary Clinton attacked Bernie Sanders’ record on gun control, and said his healthcare plan risked derailing recent legislation.
Bernie Sanders accused Hillary Clinton of being in the pocket of financial institutions responsible for the 2008 crisis.
While Hillary Clinton leads nationwide, Bernie Sanders is a threat in key states.
Hours before the debate in South Carolina, Bernie Sanders – a Vermont senator – had unveiled a healthcare plan for all American citizens.
This was the final Democratic debate before caucuses in Iowa on February 1 show who the state’s voters prefer as their candidate.
Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who is trailing Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in polls, also took part in the lively debate in which personal attacks were few and far between.
Photo AP
Bernie Sanders announced his universal healthcare plan two hours before the debate started.
Hillary Clinton said any moves to scrap the current Affordable Healthcare Act risked plunging the Democrats into “contentious debate”. Instead, the party should work on improving the program, known as ObamaCare.
Bernie Sanders responded: “Nobody is tearing this up.”
He said he wanted to build on ObamaCare.
Gun control was the first subject in the two-hour debate, that was held near a church in Charleston where nine parishioners were shot dead in June 2015.
Hillary Clinton released an advertisement this week attacking Bernie Sanders for his attitude towards gun control. His home state, Vermont, has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the US, with close to one in two households owning a weapon.
In the debate, Hillary Clinton again highlighted legislation she said showed that Bernie Sanders supported the gun lobby.
However, Bernie Sanders told the debate he had a “D minus voting record” from the National Rifle Association, and fully supported moves by President Obama for tougher background checks on gun buyers.
Martin O’Malley pointed out restrictions he passed against combat assault weapons in Maryland, adding: “I have never met a self-respecting deer hunter who needed an AR-15 [semi-automatic rifle] to down a deer.”
Polls indicate Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are neck-and-neck ahead of the caucus in Iowa, where voters will decide who they want as their preferred candidate. She had once commanded a large lead.
In New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders holds a lead in polls ahead of voting in the primary there eight days later.
Donald Trump has mocked former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for apparently taking a toilet break during a televised Democratic debate.
The Republican presidential hopeful told supporters at a rally in Michigan: “I know where she went. It’s disgusting.”
Hillary Clinton returned to the stage late after an advert break during December 19 debate with her party rivals for the presidential nomination.
Donald Trump also said Hillary Clinton had been “schlonged” by Barack Obama in 2008.
Using a vulgar Yiddish term, the Republican frontrunner was referring to Hillary Clinton’s defeat to the then senator in the primary contests that year.
Photo CBS News
“Even her race to Obama. She was going to beat Obama. I don’t know who’d be worse. I don’t know. How does it get worse?
“She was favored to win and she got schlonged, she lost.”
It is not the first time Donald Trump has referred to women in a controversial way.
In August, the property tycoon implied that he received tough questions from Fox News debate host Megyn Kelly because she was menstruating.
He has previously described comedian Rosie O’Donnell as a “fat pig”.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been feuding in recent days over claims she made that ISIS was using Donald Trump’s videos as a recruiting tool.
The billionaire has called for Muslims to be banned from entering the United States, in light of the San Bernardino deadly terror attack carried out by a radicalized Muslim couple.
Donald Trump, who has no political experience, leads the polls nationally among Republican voters, and is also ahead in some key states.
The primary contests begin at the start of February and the presidential election is in November 2016.
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has defended her claim that ISIS is using videos of Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric to recruit followers.
Donald Trump disputed that the videos exist and demanded an apology, to which Hillary Clinton’s spokesman said “hell no”.
During December 19 debate, Hillary Clinton said the Republican front-runner was becoming the group’s “best recruiter”.
Donald Trump has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, drawing criticism from around the world.
Despite providing no evidence, Donald Trump has also said American Muslims in New Jersey cheered the 9/11 attacks. He has also opposed the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the US.
Rivals in both parties have accused Donald Trump of xenophobia and preying on Americans’ heighten fears about terrorism after attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.
Earlier, a spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign said they are not aware of a specific Islamic State video featuring Donald Trump, but that jihadis use his comments about Muslims for recruitment.
“She lies about everything,” Donald Trump said, adding that the Democratic front-runner was “making up tapes and video which don’t exist”.
Hillary Clinton’s spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN: “Hell no. Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing to Donald Trump for correctly pointing out how his hateful rhetoric only helps [Islamic State] recruit more terrorists.”
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama told NPR that Donald Trump is “exploiting” the anger and fear among blue-collar men in the current US economy.
Economic and demographic changes in the country allows for Donald Trump to spread ideas, he said.
Of that fear and anxiety, “some of it [is] justified, but just misdirected,” Barack Obama said.
“I think somebody like Mr. Trump is taking advantage of that. That’s what he’s exploiting during the course of his campaign.”
NBC asked Donald Trump if he was holding Hillary Clinton to a double standard because he could not back up his own claim that people in New Jersey were cheering when the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11.
Donald Trump said he had been “totally exonerated” from that and that he had been proven right.
Democrat presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has apologized to fellow candidate Hillary Clinton after his staff stole valuable voting data from her campaign.
“This is not the type of campaign that we run,” Bernie Sanders said during Abc New debate on December 19.
The candidates criticized Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for his call to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
They clashed over Syria, with Bernie Sanders accusing Hillary Clinton of being set on regime change while she said US leadership was needed.
Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley also took part in the debate in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton remains the frontrunner.
Photo AP
On Syria, Hillary Clinton insisted that the US should seek to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.
“If the US does not lead, there is not another leader – there is a vacuum,” she said.
Bernie Saunders however argued that the US should first concentrate on defeating ISIS.
“Getting rid of dictators is easy, but you have to think about what happens the day after,” he said.
Both the main speakers had strong words for Donald Trump, with Hillary Clinton calling him “the biggest recruiter for ISIS” and saying he used “bigotry and bluster to inflame people”.
The debate was the first for Democrats since 14 people were killed by a married couple that the authorities say had been radicalized.
All three candidates said it was important to work more closely with Muslim-American communities to tackle radicalism at home.
Bernie Sanders admitted that on two occasions his campaign could see proprietary data from Hillary Clinton’s campaign following computer breaches – which he said were the fault of the software vendor.
He said that the most recent breech involved inappropriate behavior by one of his staff members, adding that person had now been dismissed.
Bernie Sanders said that the Democratic Party’s decision to temporarily suspend his campaign’s access to the strategically crucial database was “an egregious act”.
The Sanders campaign on December 18 filed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee in a federal court to restore its access to the voter data.
Strategically important information on voters is contained in the database, which campaigns use to decide strategy.
That data takes on a crucial role as campaigns prepare for early primary voting in just over a month’s time.
ISIS and national security have dominated last night’s presidential debate with Democratic candidates in Iowa.
The Democratic presidential hopefuls have clashed over how to deal with the militant group, in the wake of deadly terror attacks in Paris.
Hillary Clinton said “it cannot be an American fight” and called on Turkey and the Gulf states to do more.
However, rival Martin O’Malley disagreed and said the US had to “stand up to evil” and lead from the front.
The attacks killed 129 people and injured hundreds in the French capital.
Hours after the near-simultaneous attacks on November 13, CBS News vowed to shift the focus of the debate to put more emphasis on counter-terrorism and foreign policy.
A moment’s silence was observed in Des Moines before the debate began, and the three candidates expressed their condolences to the French people.
Then they clashed over the rise of ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the atrocities.
Photo CBS
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was challenged by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for backing the Iraq War, which he says led to the rise of the militants.
She disagreed, saying US foreign policy did not have the “bulk of responsibility” for the instability in the region, pointing instead to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iraq’s former leader, Nouri al-Malaki.
ISIS cannot be contained, it must be defeated, Hillary Clinton said, but she and the other candidates did not spell out how far they would go.
The US has been part of a coalition of countries taking part in air strikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but some of the Republican presidential candidates have called for the deployment of US ground forces.
In other debate highlights, Martin O’Malley attacked “immigrant bashing” Republican Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall on Mexico border. Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley repeated calls on US to accept 65,000 Syrian refugees. Hillary Clinton backed a minimum wage of $12/hour, but Bernie Sanders wants $15/hour. Bernie Sanders criticized Hillary Clinton for taking campaign donations from Wall Street to which she replied that she supported New York City’s financial sector to help it recover from the 9/11 attacks. Bernie Sanders said he will make public college tuition free, paid for by raising taxes.
This primetime showdown was the party’s second debate of the election campaign, two fewer than the Republicans, who have a much wider field.
In 79 days, Iowa will be the first state to pick a presidential candidate from each party.
Voters across the US will go to the polls finally in November 2016 to choose the new occupant of the White House.
Lincoln Chafee has announced he is dropping out of the Democratic presidential race.
The former Rhode Island Governor told the Democratic National Committee on October 23 he was ending his candidacy for the 2016 election.
The 62-year-old has struggled to raise money and make any impact in the Democratic field, which is led by Hillary Clinton.
Lincoln Chafee has served as a Republican and an Independent but had never before run for office as a Democrat.
Photo AP
At a women’s forum held by the Democratic National Committee, Lincoln Chafee said: “After much thought I have decided to end my campaign for president today.
“But I would like to take this opportunity one last time to advocate for a chance be given to peace.”
Lincoln Chafee was, as he pointed out in the recent Democratic debate, the only Republican to vote against the Iraq War.
After Lincoln Chafee’s departure there are only three Democrats left – former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has endured an 11-hour hearing before a congressional committee over the 2012 deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Hillary Clinton said she took responsibility and introduced reforms after the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
She deflected criticism that she did not do enough to protect the mission.
Hillary Clinton’s Democrat party says the Republican-led panel is a witch-hunt trying to harm her presidential bid.
Despite the committee sitting in four consecutive hours-long sessions on October 22, the hearing yielded little new information.
Hillary Clinton remained composed during the highly-anticipated testimony, amid several heated exchanges between Republicans and her Democrat allies.
In her opening statement, Hillary Clinton said she had asked Chris Stevens to go to Libya as US envoy.
“After the attacks I stood next to President Obama as Marines carried his casket,” she said.
Photo AFP
“I took responsibility, and as part of that before I left office I launched reforms to better protect our people in the field and help reduce the chance of another tragedy happening in the future.”
Hillary Clinton said her appearance was her way of honoring the lives lost, and she called on those present to put national security above partisan politics.
Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, seated next to the chairman, said Republicans were wasting taxpayer money in an effort to derail Hilalry Clinton’s presidential campaign.
However, Trey Gowdy denied his committee was going after Hillary Clinton.
Instead, Trey Gowdy said, it was looking for the truth behind the diplomatic compound’s unsuccessful requests for more security and personnel in the build up to the attacks.
There have already been seven congressional investigations into the attack, by suspected Islamist militants, on the US compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi on September 11, 2012.
The raid led to the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US embassy staff.
Hillary Clinton said Chris Stevens was well aware of the risks of his job but withdrawing American presence from Libya would have been a mistake, she said.
“To retreat from the world is not an option. America cannot shrink from our ability to lead.”
When the US pulls out of places, extremists gain a foothold, Hillary Clinton added, although she did admit that security requests made by the Benghazi consulate were not met.
An independent review board found deficiencies within the State Department that the Obama administration has tried to fix, Hillary Clinton said.
Observers say this was a key moment for Hillary Clinton, who solidified her position as the Democrats’ frontrunner for presidential candidate after her potential rival, VP Joe Biden, ruled himself out of the race on October 21.
The Republicans on the committee were also under pressure to prove they had good reason to bring Hillary Clinton before them, and were not just using it as an excuse to undermine her presidential candidacy.
One thing that was unearthed by the committee’s work was Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, which has dogged her 2016 campaign ever since.
Hillary Clinton has clashed with her main rival Bernie Sanders over gun control at the first Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas.
When asked if the Vermont senator was strong on gun control, Hillary Clinton said “no, not at all” before vowing to go after the makers of guns used in shootings.
Bernie Sanders also attacked Hillary Clinton, saying her support for a no-fly zone in Syria would create “serious problems”.
His rallies have drawn big crowds and he has challenged Hillary Clinton’s frontrunner status in some key states.
A lot of the key exchanges came between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, and the three other candidates on stage in Las Vegas – former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee – struggled to make headway.
One of the sharpest points of difference between the two main candidates came over gun control.
Photo EPA
The hugely divisive issue came back on the agenda after a mass shooting at a college campus in Oregon.
When Hillary Clinton said Bernie Sanders was not tough enough, she was referring to him voting in 2005 for a measure to give gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits.
The two also argued over the merits of capitalism, with the former first lady saying it would be a “grave mistake” for the nation to reject it.
Vice-President Joe Biden is still considering a run for the White House and did not make a last-minute entry on to the stage, as his supporters hoped.
Hillary Clinton has seen her support wane amid questions about her use of a private email account when she served as secretary of state, a move she now calls a mistake.
However, she was unfazed during the debate when Lincoln Chafee questioned her credibility over it, refusing to respond when invited.
The candidates tried to draw a distinction with the two Republican debates, where candidates took a tougher stance on immigration and spent more time discussing social issues like abortion and gay marriage.
Martin O’Malley used his 90-second closing speech to say the Republican debates were lessons in intolerance.
Republican candidate Jeb Bush said he saw nothing on the Las Vegas stage to impress him.
“If you think this country is on the wrong track, Hillary Clinton just told you she has no interest in changing direction. I sure will.”
Fifteen Republicans are vying to be the party’s White House nominee in 2016.
Iowa will be the first state to choose its candidate from each party in February, then other states hold primaries in the following weeks and months.
By next summer, each party will have a presidential nominee who will do battle in the race for the White House.
Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is preparing for the first Democratic presidential debate, seeking to mix her mastery of policy with a more personal touch.
Meanwhile, for chief rival Bernie Sanders, the debate is a chance to reach a broader audience after months of appealing to the party’s most liberal voters.
However, unlike recent Republican debates, today’s Democratic outing is expected to be more substance than slugfest.
Analysts expect a heavy focus on economic issues like income inequality.
The three other, mostly unknown, candidates – former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee – will be seeking a standout moment after months of languishing in the polls.
Vice-President Joe Biden, who is still considering a run for the White House, will loom large despite not actually being on stage.
The debate organizers at CNN have set aside a lectern just on the off-chance Joe Biden decides to enter the fray at the last minute. The debate is set to start at 17:30 local time.
Photo USA Today
Hillary Clinton – long seen as the presumptive front-runner – has seen her support wane amid questions about her trustworthiness.
She has been criticized for using a private email account when she served as secretary of state, a move she now calls a mistake.
Some Republicans say Hillary Clinton put classified information at risk by using the private account – a charge she denies.
On October 22, Hillary Clinton will go before a Congressional panel investigating a 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans – including the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, died in the attack.
Critics say Hillary Clinton could have done more as secretary of state to ensure their security.
Her performance in both Tuesday’s debate and the coming hearing are being closely watched as her campaign enters a key phase.
Analysts say Hillary Clinotn needs to shake off perceptions that she is too stiff and overly political by delivering spontaneity and more personal warmth.
BernieSanders, a Vermont Senator who calls himself a democratic socialist, has drawn record crowds in recent months with his message of increased economic fairness for the working class.
He is leading in early voting states of New Hampshire and Iowa and has defied expectations, raising large amounts of money from thousands of small donors.
However, Hillary Clinton maintains a substantial lead in many Southern states like South Carolina and swing states like Nevada, where today’s debate will be held.
Bernie Sanders has resonated with the party’s affluent white voters but has yet to make inroads with African Americans and Latinos – key Democratic constituencies.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have mostly avoided direct criticism of each other in contrast to the raucous Republican field.
However, even if the candidates themselves practice restraint, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump promises to provide live commentary on Twitter.
The Democratic debates are between all major candidates running for President in 2016.
The Democratic National Committee has announced six sanctioned debates which will begin on October 13, 2015, in Las Vegas.
The second Democratic debate will take place on November 14 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Hillary Clinton has unveiled her plan to curb Wall Street abuses.
The Democratic presidential front-runner’s proposals include harsher penalties for executives, including forcing them to share fines imposed against their institutions.
Hillary Clinton said there was still too much risk in the financial system:“<<Too big to fail>> is still too big a problem.”
The plan focuses on reining in Wall Street and holding individuals more accountable. If a bank engaged in trading that risked its financial stability, senior managers would not be eligible for bonuses.
Hillary Clinton’s plan included imposing a “risk fee” on big financial institutions to discourage short-term borrowing and encourage them to hold more cash.
She would also impose new taxes on high frequency trading, which has been blamed for market disruptions.
The proposals also strengthen the Volcker rule, which prevents banks from using their own money in certain trades.
Senator Barney Frank helped the Clinton camp draft the proposal. He was the co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act, the most significant Wall Street regulation to emerge since the financial crisis.
However, Hilary Clinton stopped short of calling for the reinstatement of the Glass Steagall Act – a law that separated high street banks from investment banks – saying she prefers “a different way”. Glass Steagall was repealed by former President Bill Clinton during his Presidency.
Hillary Clinton says she opposes the controversial Keystone XL pipeline which would carry Canadian oil to the US.
The US State Department is still studying whether to go ahead with the Keystone XL project.
The Democratic presidential candidate has previously avoided taking a position on the matter.
Now, at a campaign event in Iowa, Hillary Clinton said the pipeline would be a “distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change”.
“Therefore, I oppose it,” she told supporters.
Until now, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had avoiding giving an opinion on the project, saying she did not want to interfere with the Obama administration’s deliberations.
However, Hillary Clinton’s main rival for the Democratic candidacy, Bernie Sanders, has long opposed the scheme and called on her to make her position clear.
The 1,179-mile pipe was first proposed seven years ago, and would transport oil from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico via Nebraska.
Supporters say the project will create jobs and US increase energy security, while opponents say it will only increase carbon emissions.
Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton will unveil a plan to rein in prescription drug costs by forcing pharmaceutical companies to reinvest their profits into research and allowing for more generic and imported drugs.
The proposal, which Hillary Clinton will outline in a speech in Iowa on September 22, would also allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug costs and cap out-of-pocket expenses, according to details of the plan sent out by her campaign team.
The plan seeks to address a key shortcoming of ObamaCare, President Barack Obama’s signature health law, as Hillary Clinton aims to show how she would put her imprint on it.
On September 21, Hillary Clinton sent out a tweet referencing a New York Times article about Daraprim, a drug to treat toxoplasmosis that increased in price overnight from $13.50 to $750 per tablet.
“Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. Tomorrow I’ll lay out a plan to take it on,” Hillary Clinton said.
US pharmaceuticals companies charge Americans thousands of dollars for new drugs that are often priced lower in other developed nations while receiving billions of taxpayer dollars for basic research, according to the campaign.
The prescription drug plan is part of a broader focus on health care this week.
On September 23, Hillary Clinton will outline a separate set of proposals to address other out-of-pocket health costs that patients face.
According to the campaign, Hillary Clinton’s plan will propose to:
Deny tax breaks for consumer advertising and demand that drug companies instead invest US taxpayer dollars in research and development. Many companies benefit from corporate write-offs for advertising aimed specifically at consumers. Companies that receive federal funds would be required to reinvest a certain amount in research.
Encourage the production of generic drugs including lowering the amount of time companies can exclusively produce new treatments.
Cap what insurers can charge consumers with chronic or serious health conditions in out-of-pocket costs. Health insurance plans would place a monthly limit of $250 on out-of-pocket costs for such patients.
Allow Americans to import drugs from abroad. Countries in Europe with similar safety standards often pay half of what American pay for the same drugs, according to the campaign.
Allow Medicare to negotiate drug and biologic prices, especially for high-cost drugs with limited competition.
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