WASHINGTON – Five more states chime in to the rambunctious campaign 2016 conversation on Tuesday, and no one’s listening with greater interest than Marco Rubio and John Kasich, both of them desperate to win their home states and avoid being flattened by Donald Trump’s steamroller.
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Despite raising $69 million between his campaign committee and his aligned super political action committee and gaining the support of several prominent Republicans including Sen.
NY real estate mogul Trump is the favorite to win the Republican nomination despite fierce opposition within the party.
Rubio was also pessimistic about the prospects for a Republican victory in the general election: “While we are on the right side, this year we will not be on the winning side”.
With close to 60 percent of the votes counted, Kasich had almost 45 percent of the Republican vote compared to 37 percent for Trump and 14 percent for Texas Sen.
GOP rules require delegates to vote for the candidate who won them on the first ballot at the convention.
“I don’t think I should be toning it down because I’ve had the biggest rallies of anybody probably ever”, Mr Trump said on ABC’s Good Morning America.
The polls say it’s unlikely, but if Ted Cruz were to win every state on Tuesday, he would jump into the lead in the race for delegates. Trump has now won North Carolina, Florida and IL tonight.
Florida’s outcome, with companion wins in North Carolina and IL, strengthened Trump’s chances to secure the Republican presidential nomination.
Missouri was the fifth state to hold a primary contest Tuesday.
Clinton’s victory in OH follows her surprise loss in MI last week, which raised fresh questions about her campaign strategy and provided a lift to Sanders that he hoped would help him sweep the Midwest.
The vast majority of those delegates will be sought-after free agents, free to support the candidate of their choice – unless Rubio tries to resurrect his campaign at a contested convention. The former first lady, senator and secretary of state won the Florida primary in 2008 over Barack Obama in what largely was a symbolic showing because the state didn’t get delegates after failing to follow the national party calendar. He then banked on a big showing in New Hampshire but a stunningly poor debate performance – in which he frequently repeated talking points and was called “scripted” by rival Chris Christie – led to a dismal fifth place.
“The Republican Party is not going to allow itself to be hijacked by fake conservatives and people who go around dividing us against each other”, he said at a campaign stop in the Sunshine State on Monday. The other three states are closer, but Missouri, Ohio and IL all look possible.
Trump will roughly be halfway to the GOP’s nomination in delegates. So it’s tough for anyone to make up much ground on Trump in delegates in those states.
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Rath said he believes it will be in OH or Florida that Trump will lose momentum and end up short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination.
