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ByBillBarrow and Josh Lederman TheAssociatedPress COLUMBIA, S.C. Hoping for survival in the South, a muddled field of Repub- lican presidential contend- ers descended Wednes- day on South Carolina, no closer to clarity about who can stand between Don- ald Trump and their par- ty's nomination. Not me, Carly Fiorina announced, dropping out of the campaign. A Chris Christie spokeswoman said his race was over, too. But a sizeable field remained. To the dismay of party leaders, all signs point to a drawn-out battle for del- egates following Trump's resounding victory in New Hampshire. Flor- ida Sen. Marco Rubio, un- der immense pressure to prove himself after a dev- astating fifth-place fin- ish, was looking for a fight that could last for months or even spill into the first contested GOP national convention since 1976. "We very easily could be looking at May — or the convention," Rubio cam- paign manager Terry Sul- livan told The Associated Press. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the conservative firebrand and victor in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, returned to the center of the fracas after largely sitting out New Hampshire. He drew contrasts with Trump as he told a crowd of 500 in Myrtle Beach that Texans and South Carolinians are more alike than not. "We love God, we're gun owners, military veter- ans and we're fed up with what's happening in Wash- ington," Cruz said. The state, with its array of conservative GOP voters, will test Trump and the others in new ways. Hav- ing courted social conser- vatives in Iowa and mod- erates in New Hampshire, the candidates face an elec- torate infused with evan- gelical, pro-business and military-minded flavors. Rubio's campaign has looked forward to the state. Yet his path grew far trick- ier after a fifth-place New Hampshire letdown, which terminated talk of Republi- can leaders quickly uniting behind him as the stron- gest alternative to "outsid- ers" Trump and Cruz. His campaign's sugges- tion that the race could veer a contested conven- tion seemed to signal to mainstream Republicans that the party would be ill-served by allowing the Trump phenomenon to last much longer. GOP officials have already had early dis- cussions about such a July scenario, which could be triggered if no candidate secures a majority of del- egates by convention time. Heading into the final two-week sprint, Trump was leading in South Car- olina among all demo- graphic groups, an NBC/ Marist/Wall Street Journal poll showed, with Cruz and Rubio a distant second and third. Already, more than $32 million has been spent on TV ads here, according to CMAG/Kantar Media data — much of it by Right to Rise, the PAC backing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. PRESIDENTIAL RACE JumbledGOPfieldhopesfor survival in South Carolina By Julie Pace The Associated Press WASHINGTON HillaryClin- ton's campaign has spent months fighting the per- ception that she has a shaky relationship with the truth and is disconnected from the problems facing Amer- icans. So far, the campaign's ef- fort hasn't worked. Less than half the vot- ers in New Hampshire's Democratic primary found Clinton to be honest and trustworthy, while about 90 percent believed those qualities fit her rival, Ber- nie Sanders. Equally con- cerning for Clinton as she grapples with her double- digit loss to Sanders in New Hampshire: Voters who wanted a presidential candidate who cares about people like them sided overwhelmingly with the Vermont senator, an em- pathy gap that has proved devastating for previous presidential candidates. The numbers echoed voter surveys last week in Iowa, where Clinton edged Sanders by the narrowest of margins. "This is a serious, seri- ous problem that is clearly afflicting her," said Paul Maslin, a Democratic poll- ster. "It's not just Bernie Sanders and the strength of his message or that she's cast as the establishment. It's a personal judgment that people have made about her." Clinton advisers say they're clear-eyed about the problems posed by the pub- lic's perception of their can- didate. But they're less cer- tain about how to address them. In classic Clinton fash- ion, allies have floated the prospect of a staff shake-up at her Brooklyn campaign headquarters. While no one on the senior team is ex- pected to be fired, the Clin- tons are said to be eyeing a role for a senior Democrat who could serve as a singu- lar decision-maker, an im- plicit indictment of an or- ganization where decisions often seem to be made by committee. South Carolina state Rep. Todd Rutherford, a Clinton supporter, said that in an election where voters are drawn to Sanders' passion- ate calls for ending Wall Street's influence in Wash- ington, Clinton has a "diffi- cult needle to thread" when it comes to explaining her history of campaign contri- butions and speaking fees from the financial industry. Indeed, voters have raised those concerns re- peatedly in early voting states. ELECTION 2016 MATTROURKE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at her first-in-the-nation presidential primary campaign rally, Tuesday in Hooksett, N.H. CHARLES KRUPA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Rod Webber of Boston, holds an American flag as he talks with presidential candidate volunteers holding signs outside a polling station on primary day in Londonderry, N.H., on Tuesday. But is she honest? Caring? Cl in to n gr ap pl es w it h qu es ti on s "This is a serious, serious problem that is clearly afflicting her. It's not just Bernie Sanders and the strength of his message or that she's cast as the establishment. It's a personal judgment that people have made about her." — Paul Maslin, Democratic pollster By Tom Krisher and Justin Pritchard The Associated Press Computers that control cars of the future can be considered drivers just like humans, the federal gov- ernment's highway safety agency has found. The redefinition of "driver" by the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad- ministration is an impor- tant break for Google, tak- ing it a step closer to its goal of self-driving cars without steering wheels, pedals or human drivers. But the company still has a long journey ahead before its cars get on the road in great numbers. While the safety agency agreed with Google's "driver" reinter- pretation in a recent let- ter, it didn't allow other concessions and said nu- merous federal rules would have to be changed to per- mit the cars. "NHTSA will interpret 'driver' in the context of Google's described motor vehicle design as referring to the SDS (self-driving sys- tem) and not to any of the vehicle occupants," Paul Hemmersbaugh, NHTSA's chief counsel, wrote in the letter. But the agency rejected many of Google's claims that its cars met federal auto safety standards, in- cluding a requirement for foot and hand brakes. Google said the require- ment wasn't necessary be- cause the electronic driver can stop the cars. Yet the government said regula- tions are clear and would have to be changed to al- low that. "In a number of in- stances, it may be possible for Google to show that cer- tain (federal) standards are unnecessary for a particu- lar vehicle design," Hem- mersbaugh wrote. "To date, however, Google has not made such a showing." Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., has sug- gested the cars could be ready for the public in a few years. After several years of caution, last month federal regulators said they wanted to help speed the technolo- gy's widespread adoption if it proves to be safe. In letters over the past three months, Google asked NHTSA to interpret safety standards in ways that would ease the path for self-driving car prototypes to get into public hands. In order to put their cars on the road, automakers must self-certify that they meet federal safety stan- dards and get NHTSA's ap- proval. While Hemmers- baugh's letter agrees about the computer as the driver, it says the company will have to apply for exemp- tions to the standards, and the agency will have to go through the cumbersome federal rule-making process in some cases to get the cars approved. The agency also will develop a model policy for states to follow if they decide to allow autono- mous cars on public roads. That policy could eventu- ally lead to consistent na- tional regulations for au- tonomous cars. Right now, individual states like Cal- ifornia, Florida and Ne- vada have their own reg- ulations. Safety advocates worry the agency is getting too cozy with the auto indus- try when it comes to tech- nology regulations. Google spokesman Johnny Luu said the com- pany had no comment be- yond that it was reviewing the agency's response. GOOGLE TONY AVELAR — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE The federal government's highway safety agency agrees with Google: Computers that will control the cars of the future can be considered their driver. The redefinition of "driver" is an important break for Google. Government will consider co mp ut er t o be c ar 's d ri ve r By Martin Crutsinger The Associated Press WASHINGTON Federal Re- serve Chair Janet Yellen cautioned Wednesday that global weakness and fall- ing financial markets could depress the U.S. economy's growth and slow the pace of Fed interest rate hikes. ButYellenmadeclearthat the Fed won't likely find it necessary to cut rates after having raised them from re- cord lows in December. She did concede, though, that negative rates, which cen- tral banks in Japan and Eu- rope have recently imposed, areatool theFedhas atleast studied. In her semiannual report to Congress, Yellen offered no major surprises. And she reiterated the Fed's confi- dence that the U.S. econ- omy was on track for stron- ger growth and an increase in too-low inflation. At the same time, she noted the weaker economic figures that have emerged since 2016 began and made clear the Fed is nervous about the risks from abroad. Her concerns about the perils to U.S. growth con- trasted with the Fed's state- ment eight weeks ago, when it raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a de- cadeanddescribedeconomic risks as "balanced." In her testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, Yellen also: • Expressed sympathy with committee members who raised concerns about chronically higher-than-av- erageunemploymentamong black Americans. Members of an activist group, the Fed Up coalition, attended the hearingwearingT-shirtsem- blazoned with the messages "What Recovery?" and "Let OurWagesGrow."Thegroup has been urging the Fed to delay further rate hikes un- til the job market improves further,especiallyforminor- ity groups. •SaidtheFedstill expects toraiseratesgraduallybutis notonanypresetcourse.The central bank will likely slow its pace of rate increases "if the economy were to disap- point," she said. • Observed that the cen- tral bank still thinks energy price declines and a stron- ger dollar will fade in com- ingmonthsandhelpraisein- flation back up to the Fed's 2 percent target rate. The higher-valueddollarhasheld down U.S. inflation by mak- ing foreign goods cheaper for Americans. Worker pay, though, has begun to show its first significant gains since the Great Recession ended 6½ years ago. •SaidFedofficials consid- eredin2010thepossibilityof using negative rates to bol- ster the economy but even- tually rejected the approach. Yellen suggested that the is- sue of the Fed's legal author- ity to impose negative bor- rowing rates as a means of stimulating growth still needed to be examined. REPORT TO CONGRESS Ye ll en : Pe rs is te nt e co nom ic weakness could slow rate hikes 741Main Street,Suite#2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.redbluffcoldwellbanker.com See All Tehama County Listings at If you are Considering Selling Your Home, Now is the Time! PropertyisSelling and Listings are in Short Supply! CallTehamaCountiesLargest Real Estate Office and let our Knowledgeable and Professional Realtors assist you Today! THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B