Clinton celebrated double-digit victories in the delegate-rich states of Florida, North Carolina and OH as well as a narrow win in IL.
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The GOP front-runner strengthened his hand with wins in Florida, North Carolina and Illinois Tuesday, but fell in OH to that state’s governor, John Kasich. “Only two campaigns have a chance at the possibility of winning the nomination: Our campaign and Donald Trump”. Kasich added that he would “not take the low road to the highest office in the land”, an obvious shot at Trump, whose rallies have been the subject of several hate-filled incidents including attacks by Trump supporters on protesters.
Also holding races on Tuesday are Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina. He told a victory rally in Florida, “This was an fantastic night”.
While Mr Trump is the front runner for the Republican nomination, political observers believe he may fall short of the 1,237 delegates needed for an outright win. It has been a “devastating” night for Rubio in Florida where he polled just 27.8 per cent of the votes as against Trumps impressive 45.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Republican presidential debate scheduled for Monday in Salt Lake City has been canceled after Trump and Kasich said they would not attend.
A Democratic candidate needs to win 2,383 delegates in order to become the presidential hopeful.
“Once the battle is over, once the war is over, I think there really is a natural healing process and I’ve gotten along with people all my life”, Trump said.
With Tuesday’s primary win the number of Clinton’s delegates rose to 1,561 (467 of them super delegates), versus Sanders’ 800 (26 of them super delegates).
Despite Mrs Clinton’s advance Mr Sanders told supporters in Phoenix, Arizona that his campaign has come a long way.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., did not rule out the idea of being drafted by the party at the convention.
In those two winner-take-all states, Trump was looking to top established home state candidates. John Kasich was the only person to stop a Trump clean sweep by picking up his home state. And there are 909 delegates still up for grabs in the GOP race.
The come-back victory is evidence that he’s “starting to rise around the country” and when people look at his record of “job creation…bringing people together…common sense solutions” they’ll be drawn to him, Kasich claimed.
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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to a cheering crowd at an election night event at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
