Trump is taking steps to reshape his campaign following his loss in the Wisconsin GOP primary, which highlighted weaknesses in his operation.
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Yet, as that huge, roaring reception he received in his first post-Wisconsin appearance in Bethpage, N.Y., testifies, the Donald remains not only the front-runner, but the most exciting figure in the race.
That means a campaign can focus on districts with far fewer voters and win as many delegates as it can in heavily Republican districts.
When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 1,756, or 74 percent of the number needed to clinch the nomination.
“Can Cruz win?” the Texas senator said here at The Venetian hotel before the Republican Jewish Coalition, warning that he would “get a little wonky” before hundreds of leaders. It’s why he canceled plans to campaign in California so that he could hold down the fort at home.
For almost a year, the celebrity businessman had kept away from the trappings of a more conventional campaign operation.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders picked up another win in Wyoming – but it did nothing to help him gain ground in the delegate chase. “And I just don’t think that New Yorkers are going to fall for it”.
Cruz, as well as much of the Republican Party’s establishment, is trying to deny Trump enough delegates to be nominated on the first ballot in Cleveland-a rare event in modern USA politics that would throw the nominating process wide open.
That Trump tops 50 percent is key.
Many in this audience of prominent Republican donors feel that while Cruz is in sync with them on protecting Israel, he is too brash in tone and conservative in policy to win. Leading the way was Gov. Scott Walker, who had dropped out of the White House race past year and warned against Trump’s ascendance.
Trump also found himself on the defensive after retweeted unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife, and committed what may have been the first costly gaffe of his bid when he bungling a question about abortion. If that’s the case, any registered Republican who applies to be a delegate by the end of the county convention on Saturday will be allowed to be one.
Slates loyal to Cruz won every assembly in Colorado’s seven congressional districts, which began April 2 and culminated Friday with 12 delegates selected. The campaign fired its Colorado state director last Saturday, just after he had arrived.
Davis insisted the Trump operation wasn’t anxious. Still, Congressman Ken Buck, who chairs Cruz’s Colorado campaign, said, “dozens of volunteers have been working since December” in Colorado to vet delegate candidates and organize at local caucuses and regional meetings.
The campaign points to new fundraisers who joined Cruz at the Venetian as a sign that their money world is strengthening and entering a new phase of development. “This is when the hand-to-hand combat starts”.
Sander says he’d lift the cap on taxable income to ensure the wealthy are contributing more and he promises to expand benefits.
Trump’s brash, insult-heavy campaign has had a polarizing effect on Republicans as well as the nation at large, but Manafort said he believed the party would unite behind Trump. The campaign also blasted out text messages to convention attendees, listing their delegate choices. He is expected to continue to have a prominent role that will including traveling with the candidate – highly unusual for a campaign manager. “And there’s not a thing that can be done to stop it”, Cruz said, saying a Trump candidacy would lead to a “bloodbath of Walter Mondale proportions”.
The debate over the national delegate selection in Colorado this weekend qualified as the very definition of inside baseball.
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“When you looked at his face during the debate, he was talking about NY values as though he hates New Yorkers, which is his real feeling”, Trump continued. He can win the statewide delegates (and this poll suggests that he will) – but that’s only going to add 17 delegates to his total.
