Presidential hopefuls focus on minority vote, Trump

Denmark, S.C. — The fight for black voters turned into a tug-of-war over President Barack Obama’s legacy Friday as Democratic presidential hopefuls looked for an edge in South Carolina. Republicans, meanwhile, crisscrossed the state in search of a path out of Donald Trump’s long shadow.

A day after their debate in Milwaukee, Hillary Clinton stepped up her hammering of rival Bernie Sanders for what she said are his false claims on Obama’s legacy. Prominent black leaders echoed the theme — an effort to use the first African-American president as a wedge between Sanders and black voters.

“He has called the president weak, a disappointment,” Clinton said of Sanders at a town hall Friday. “He does not support, the way I do, building on the progress the president has made.”

Coming off a bruising rout in New Hampshire, the former secretary of state hopes the first-in-the-South primary will showcase her strength with at least one core segment of the Democratic coalition. A Democrat cannot win the nomination, much less the White House, without significant backing and enthusiasm from black communities.

Sanders says he’s been largely supportive of Obama, despite his occasional critique.

“Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job,” Sanders said in Thursday night’s debate.

Sanders was campaigning in Minnesota on Friday.

ForRepublicans, SouthCarolina is a chance to emerge as the viable alternative to the billionaire reality-TV star who snatched the race away from the GOP establishment. Although Trump appears to have a solid lead in polls in the state, there st of the field is hoping to peel off support from the large and influential evangelical community.

As his rivals hustled through rare snowfall Friday, Trump showed he won’t make it easy. He was able to steal the spotlight with a Twitter threat to sue his closest competitor.

“If @TedCruz doesn’t clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen,” Trump wrote.

Another tweet questioned Cruz’s faith: “How can Ted Cruz be an evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?”

Trump’s broadside was a response to cutting new ads the Cruz campaign is airing in South Carolina.

One spot is set in a children’s playroom. “Look, I’ve got the Trump action figure!” a boy says.

“What does he do?” another asks.

“He pretends to be a Republican.”

A Cruz attempt to go after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio abruptly ended when his campaign pulled the ad after learning it featured an actress known for her work on softcore pornography.

Jeb Bush and his allies also are aiming attacks at the bomb-throwing front-runner — hoping his coarse style and record on social issues will turn voters off.

Right To Rise USA, the super PAC backing Bush, released an attack ad blasting Trump for supporting partialbirth abortion, allegedly defrauding students of Trump University and trying “to seize private property to line his own pockets.”

“If Trump wins, conservatives lose,” says the ad.

Trump was the only Republican to bypass South Carolina on Friday, redirecting his typically unconventional campaign to Florida.

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore ended his campaign after failing to win support.