Jeb Bush ends White House bid

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said on Saturday he was suspending his campaign after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina primary.

Bush, who also fared poorly in earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, said the race had been "hard fought" but that voters of those three states had spoken. In what appeared to be a jab at Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, whom Bush has accused of lacking ideas, the former Florida Governor said, "ideas matter, policy matters."

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump grabbed a big win in the South Carolina primary, while Democrat Hillary Clinton breathed life into her sluggish campaign with a victory over Bernie Sanders in Nevada.

The wins for the brash billionaire and the former US secretary of state give them a major boost heading into the crucial next phase of the White House race -- Super Tuesday on March 1, when about a dozen states go to the polls.

In South Carolina, the 69-year-old Trump captured about a third of the votes, with all of the precincts reporting. His supporters erupted in a roar when CNN called the contest in his favour -- his second win of the nominations race after New Hampshire and an important test of the strength of his bid to succeed President Barack Obama.

After several nail-biting hours, final results showed Florida Senator Marco Rubio in second place in the Republican contest with 22.5 percent of the vote, narrowly ahead of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who had 22.3 percent.

In Nevada, Clinton claimed a major win in the Democratic race. Final results gave her 52.7 percent of the vote against 47.2 percent for Sanders.

Sanders congratulated Clinton, and said he was proud of having significantly narrowed the gap.

Saturday's results were bad news for Bush, Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who were relegated to the second tier of candidates. Bush did not wait long to fold.

"In this campaign, I have stood my ground, refusing to bend to the political winds," he said.

Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother to former President George W. Bush, entered the 2016 campaign as the favorite, but was unable to convert a sizable fundraising advantage into success at the polls.