WASHINGTON — High-stakes contests Saturday could reset both the Democratic and Republican presidential races.
Hillary Clinton will be trying to avoid another humiliating loss when she goes up against Bernie Sanders in the Nevada caucuses while Donald Trump looks to cement his GOP front-runner status in the South Carolina primary.
The once-dominant Clinton is again on shaky ground as Sanders has pulled even in a state where she once led by more than 20 points.
Clinton brought her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter Chelsea on the campaign trail, rolled out a new ad from Hollywood star Morgan Freeman, and even pulled out an endorsement from South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn.
The South Carolina Democratic primary is still a week away, but Clyburn said Nevada friends “urged me to come forward now expressing that it may help them in Nevada — I certainly hope so.”
Team Clinton had first pitched Nevada as a more diverse state than Iowa, where Clinton eked out a win over Sanders, and New Hampshire, where she got pummeled.
Her campaign moved away from that argument as Clinton’s numbers dropped.
A loss in Nevada, with a population that is 9 percent black and 28 percent Hispanic, would give Sanders a burst of money and momentum and promote even more heartburn among Clinton loyalists.
A win would give Clinton the ability to pitch her recovery after her loss in New Hampshire and move toward what could be a romp in South Carolina, where she leads by an average of 24 points in polls.
“I’m not just making speeches. I’m not just promising free this and free that and free everything,” Clinton said of her rival, who is promoting a single-payer health plan and a $15 minimum wage.
After Clinton said at a town hall Thursday she would only release transcripts of her speeches at Goldman Sachs events when other candidates released theirs, Team Sanders hit back with snark.
“Sen. Sanders accepts Sen. Clinton’s challenge,” responded spokesman Mike Briggs. “He will release all of the transcripts of all of his Wall Street speeches. That’s easy. The fact is, there weren’t any.”
On the GOP side, Trump leads the field in South Carolina with 28 percent of the vote, according to a new Clemson University poll.
Ted Cruz is in second with 19 percent, followed by Marco Rubio at 15 percent, Jeb Bush 10 percent, John Kasich 9 percent and Ben Carson 6 percent.
With Post Wires