In a split decision, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump each captured two victories in Saturday’s four-state round of voting, fresh evidence that there’s no quick end in sight to the fractious GOP race for president. Trump said he hoped to win Kansas and Kentucky on Saturday, and he urged the Orlando crowd to vote for him in the March 15 GOP primary.
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In Maine, Cruz won by a comfortable margin over Trump.
Senator Marco Rubio performed very poorly in all the four Republican primary states following which Trump asked him to drop out of the race.
Rubio said the upcoming schedule of primaries is “better for us”, and renewed his vow to win his home state of Florida, claiming all 99 delegates there on March 15.
Republicans and Democrats in Kansas, Republicans in ME and Democrats in Nebraska snubbed the front-runners Saturday on a heartening night for Ted Cruz in the GOP contest and Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race. That means Clinton will maintain her substantial delegate lead to date.
Saturday’s GOP races in Maine, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana and Democratic contests in Nebraska, Kansas and Louisiana were largely overshadowed by the Super Tuesday races dominated by Trump and Clinton.
This story has been updated to show that voter Kathy Smith, not Deborah Carey, called Sanders and Clinton “a communist and a criminal”, not a “communist and a crook”. In all, 155 GOP delegates were at stake in Saturday’s races.
With the GOP race in chaos, establishment figures frantically are looking for any way to stop Trump, perhaps at a contested convention if none of the candidates can roll up the 1,237 delegates needed to snag the nomination. The Rubio campaign has remained steadfast in its belief that the senator can turn things around; a loss there would be devastating for Rubio and would give Trump all of the state’s delegates, which will be allocated on a winner-take-all basis.
Marco Rubio on Saturday made several thinly-veiled jabs at Donald Trump while speaking at a major gathering of conservatives, warning the audience that nominating “someone who is not a conservative” will have far-reaching implications for the Republican Party and the U.S.
The movement against Trump’s CPAC appearance comes on the heels of the extraordinary press conference held Thursday by Mitt Romney, who denounced the billionaire developer as a “phony” and a “fraud”. “I will win Ted one-o-one”, Trump told reporters at a news conference in Palm Beach in Florida. Graham, who ended his own White House bid earlier this year, said Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich “have got to decide among themselves” whether they can be a realistic alternative to front-runner Trump.
Democratic State Chairman Vince Powers said Friday he has no idea who will win.
Among his supporters in Kentucky was 57-year-old Karen Gallardo, a lifelong Republican who said she was proud to caucus for the real estate mogul. As for Trump, Berry said, he is a little too narcissistic..
Voters in five states are voting this Saturday, with more than 100 delegates up for grab in each party.
Kasich, meanwhile campaigned in MI ahead of the state’s March 8 primaries. “And it’ll be a whole new ballgame and I’ll be able to compete in a lot of these states”.
“If you could put those together and win MI, I think you’ve got the beginnings of ‘hey, maybe we shouldn’t be closing the door yet, ‘” said Joe Trippi, a veteran presidential campaign Democratic strategist.
“The states that voted tonight are important and we’re going to leave tonight with more delegates than we had”.
The two Democrats were preparing to spar in their seventh debate on Sunday in Flint, Michigan, with trade and economic policy sure to be prime subjects.
The weekend contests are divvying up 175 delegates among the Republican candidates and 134 delegates between Clinton and Sanders.
Overall, Clinton had at least 1,121 delegates to Sanders’ 479, including superdelegates – members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice.
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Cruz won at least 64 delegates Saturday, making a small dent in Trump’s lead for Republican convention delegates. Trump now has 373 delegates to Cruz’s 291.
