Feb. 24--REPORTING FROM LAS VEGAS -- Donald Trump looked to Nevada for a third straight victory Tuesday to propel him closer to the Republican nomination while Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz battled for an upset or strong enough finish to slow the billionaire before his momentum becomes impossible to stop.
A scant 30 delegates were being contested in Nevada, a relative newcomer to the early presidential balloting.
But the candidates competed fiercely in the state's precinct caucuses, mindful of how the results might shape the race a week later on March 1, or Super Tuesday, when the stakes grow exponentially higher. Nearly 600 delegates will be awarded in 12 states, or about half the total needed to become the GOP nominee.
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Even before a single Nevada vote was cast Tuesday, the caucuses were shrouded in doubts and concern.
The state Republican Party, torn by infighting, performed miserably in 2012. It took three days to count 33,000 votes and declare a winner.
Complicating the process this time were rules allowing caucuses to start at different times. The balloting got underway at 5 p.m. Pacific time and was supposed to be completed by 9 p.m. Some feared the results might not be released until sometime Wednesday.
Early on, there were scattered reports of irregularities, including people voting more than once, overseers improperly wearing campaign paraphernalia and some failing to check voters' IDs.
After a complaint from a Trump lawyer, Nevada's GOP on Tuesday barred the public from videotaping activity at voting sites, something Cruz's campaign had suggested to supporters to guard against misconduct.
Trump turned that around to accuse Cruz of engaging in dirty politics.
"A lot of dishonesty out there," Trump said at a boisterous afternoon rally in Sparks.
The Rubio camp chimed in as well, urging supporters in an email to watch out for "a disturbing pattern of dirty tricks" by the Texas senator.
Cruz asked his communications director, Rick Tyler, to resign Monday after he claimed Rubio could be heard disparaging the Bible in a video he posted on social media. The allegation was false and Tyler apologized.
But the dust-up on the eve of the Nevada vote lent credibility to weeks of accusations by both Trump and Rubio that Cruz has run a fundamentally dishonest campaign. Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses with strong evangelical support, has made faith and morality a centerpiece of his presidential bid.
The Nevada campaign was a brief one, the vote coming just three days after the South Carolina primary, which Trump won handily.
He barreled into the state on the strength of that performance, a commanding victory in the New Hampshire primary and a name that needed no introduction to Nevadans. Trump's gold-sheathed hotel just off the Las Vegas Strip -- topped by his brand name -- is visible from miles away.
Rubio, who lived in Las Vegas for several years as a boy, ran a more conventional campaign, rounding up endorsements from elected leaders and making the case for his electability in November. He has yet to win a state in three contests.
"Frustration's not a plan," the Florida senator told a few hundred supporters at the Silverton casino resort in Las Vegas. "Being angry is not a plan. This election can't just be about making a point. It can't just be about electing the loudest person in the room."
Rubio argued that he could expand the Republican Party by appealing to "all of these folks that work in the hotel rooms here -- that clean the rooms like my mom did, that serve the drinks behind the bar like my father did."
Cruz aimed his appeal at rural Nevada, seeking to tap a deep and abiding hostility toward the federal government.
At a stop Tuesday in Fernley, he said the low turnout expected in Nevada would lend even greater power to those who took the time to vote.
"Most people in this state don't have a history of coming out," Cruz said. "So when you get nine other people to come out you have a disproportionate voice, and the whole country is looking right now to you."
He and Rubio were both competing for support among the state's small but politically influential Mormon community, which powered Mitt Romney to victory in the 2008 and 2012 caucuses.
Those were the only contests in which Nevada voted early, part of an effort by the national parties to give Western voters a greater say in their nominating processes.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the second-place finisher in New Hampshire, did not compete in Nevada. Instead, he was aiming at a handful of Super Tuesday states and staking his campaign on a win March 8 in the Michigan primary.
Finnegan reported from Las Vegas and Barabak from San Francisco. Times staff writer Kurtis Lee in Sparks contributed to this report.
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