Her opponent, Bernie Sanders, won the Oklahoma primary and caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado, as well as the primary in his home state of Vermont.
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Some supports of GOP presidential hopefuls Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz would likely go to Donald Trump if either dropped out of the race.
Instead, he has watched Trump, a brash NY real estate mogul, display surprising strength with the region’s evangelical Christians and social conservatives. Marco Rubio notched his first victory, in Minnesota. His home state, Florida, votes on March 15.
Clinton, the former secretary of state and senator, won in Massachusetts, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia. Republicans voted in Alaska and Democrats in Colorado.
Sanders, who had one his fourth state, thanked cheering supporters in his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, and assailed the Republican front-runner.
“I’m speaking out about bigotry and bullying when I see it. I hear a lot of it from the Republican candidates, they’ve forgotten completely about issues and are now running their campaigns based on insults”.
He has seized on the anxieties of voters angry at Washington and anxious about immigration and an uncertain economy. “We have to make America whole”, Clinton said.
In the Democratic race, Mrs Clinton has steadied herself after an unexpectedly strong early challenge from Mr Sanders. “Instead of building walls, we’re going to break down barriers and build ladders of opportunity and empowerment”.
“Two weeks from tonight right here in Florida”, Rubio said, “we are going to send a message loud and clear: The party of Lincoln and Reagan will never be held by a con artist”.
Mr Trump, too, had his eye on a contest with Mrs Clinton, casting her as part of a political establishment that has failed Americans.
“She’s been there for so long”, Trump said at his swanky Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, promising supporters he would “go after” Clinton.
“What we can’t let happen is the scapegoating, the flaming, the finger pointing that is going on the Republican side”, she told voters in Springfield, Massachusetts, Monday.
“For any candidate that wakes up tomorrow morning who hasn’t won any states…”
A total of 595 Republican delegates of the 1,237 needed to clinch the GOP nomination were up for grabs in 11 states Tuesday. Democrats were allocating 865 delegates, more than one-third of the 2,383 needed to become the nominee.
The billionaire businessman at the center of the Republican race cleaned up Tuesday night, winning at least seven of the 11 states at stake and perhaps eight, including the key swing state of Virginia.
Mr Rubio scored his first victory on Tuesday – in the Minnesota caucuses – but did not live up to the wider hopes of the numerous Republican officeholders who have promoted him as the party’s best alternative to Mr Trump.
A new CNN/ORC poll found that both Mrs Clinton and Senator Sanders would easily defeat Mr Trump if the general election were held now.
With results still coming in, Trump had won at least 175 Super Tuesday delegates, while Cruz picked up at least 89. Overall, Trump leads the Republican field with 221 delegates.
AM NOT, DID TOO: The rhetoric in the GOP race took a turn for the worse before Super Tuesday, featuring a series of taunts between Trump and Rubio about potential pants-wetting, bad spray tans and overactive sweat glands. Other candidates, including Rubio, faced questions amid Trump’s romp about whether he was in “denial” about a potential path to the nomination. “Of course Rubio and Cruz do as well, but in much smaller numbers”.
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Super Tuesday was the biggest single day of state-by-state contests to select party nominees for the November 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.
