News Analysis: Trump leads Republican race, but rival candidates continue to hang on

Donald Trump is leading the race to the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidential election, but several other candidates continue to hold on in a show of grit and determination, in a last-ditch effort to try to derail the bombastic billionaire.

Trump won big on Super Tuesday earlier this week, a key contest involving votes in a dozen states. While the nomination is within his grasp, rivals led by Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and others continue to fight to the end.

"The other candidates are likely to stay in the race for the next few weeks. If they haven't made headway by the end of March, several of them will end their campaigns," Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.

Despite losing most states to Trump in Tuesday's contest, Rubio continues to attack Trump, saying on Tuesday night that Trump is a "con artist" and vowing to fight on.

"This man is a world-class con artist, and he is conning people into thinking he fights for the little guy," Rubio said in an interview with U.S. media just after Super Tuesday.

Indeed, Rubio has in recent days adopted a more aggressive stance toward Trump, billing him as a "con artist" in several interviews and speeches, although many analysts say the tactic is too little and too late.

"Rubio will stay in the race, at least through Florida, hoping that anti-Trump voters coalesce behind him," Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua, referring to the Florida senator who hopes to win his home state on the Mar. 15 primaries.

"(Rubio) may be heartened by results in Minnesota, where he won, and in Virginia, where he closed the polling gap to come in a close second place," Mahaffee added, referring to Super Tuesday.

Trump's other main rival, Ted Cruz, is also holding on.

"Cruz will stay in the race with his victories (on Tuesday) and his hope that he can replicate them in upcoming primaries in other southern states," Mahaffee said of the Texas senator.

"However, given how he is disliked by establishment Republicans, he's the last choice to coalesce behind as the anti-Trump," Mahaffee said.

On Super Tuesday, Cruz won the states of Oklahoma, Texas and Alaska. He continues to march on in a bid to clinch the nomination, although many analysts say a Cruz nomination is increasingly unlikely at this stage in the game.

In a speech during Super Tuesday, Cruz marketed himself as the only real alternative to Trump.

"After tonight, we've seen that our campaign is the only campaign that has beaten, that can beat, and that will beat Donald Trump," Cruz said, calling on lower-ranked GOP candidates to drop out of the race so that he might earn more votes from those who do not want to see Trump clinch the nomination.

Trump has beaten analysts' predictions again and again. While six months ago, no one expected him to clinch the nomination, that scenario looks increasingly possible now. And while just a couple of months ago analysts thought he could never beat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the general election, now analysts say he can.

The brash businessman has appealed to a widespread sentiment in the United States that the country is going in the wrong direction, and has capitalized on the country's anti-Washington sentiment.

Trump supporters believe the last several years of the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama have been a disaster both economically and in terms of foreign policy.

They believe not only the Democratic White House but also the Republican-led Congress has failed them, and see Trump as a successful businessman who has created thousands of jobs while career politicians in Washington have never started a business or created a job in their entire careers.

Critics say Trump is selling snake oil, and contend that his policies are unworkable and even ridiculous. They also take umbrage with Trump statements viewed as anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. Enditem