Voters in Arizona and Utah take to the polls on March 22.
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→ What: Three states hold primaries, caucuses→ CBSN election coverage begins at 10 p.m. ET→ Where: Arizona, Utah, Idaho→ When: Polls will close in Arizona at 10 p.m. ET, while caucuses in Utah are expected to end at 10:30 p.m. (Democrats) and 11 p.m. (Republicans).
For Republicans, it’s another chance to try to stop Donald Trump’s mounting delegate advantage, and the states voting Tuesday aren’t necessarily the friendly terrain he has been used to.
Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republicans Ted Cruz and John Kasich are struggling to reverse the sense of inevitability taking hold around both party front-runners. For the Republicans, a candidate needs 1,237 delegates in order to clinch the nomination. Clinton’s 467-26 edge among superdelegates – party members who can back whichever candidate they choose – had given her a substantial boost over Sen. The Vermont senator, now trailing Clinton by more than 300 pledged delegates, has targeted Tuesday’s races as the start of a comeback tour.
Contests Tuesday in Arizona, Utah and Idaho decide how near that moment might be for one of them or both.
“Overall”, writes the data-analysis site FiveThirtyEight, “our average response suggests that Trump will win 513 delegates the rest of the way”. Ted Cruz, and Kasich said he believed none would get enough delegates to prevent a contested Republican national convention.
My guess is that the former (pro-Trump) effect will outweigh the latter, but who knows? The state has long dealt with illegal immigration problems, and the Republican front-runner’s central campaign promise is to build a wall across the entire southern US border.
Kasich said on CNN: “This is an attack on Western civilization…We’re all in this together”.
Ready or not, the battle for the Republican presidential nomination heats up again today with contests in Utah and Arizona.
He added, “I’m just going to wait to see what the poll says on Tuesday”.
Cruz made a strong push; the question is whether he can win majority support and take all the delegates.
Trump continues to lead the GOP race with vigor: 35 percent responded that they are excited about his candidacy; Cruz reached a 29 percent level of enthusiasm while Kasich received the lowest levels at 27 percent.
Speaking to CNN Tuesday following the deadly attacks on Brussel’s metro system and airport, Clinton said she won’t respond to accusations by GOP front-runner Donald Trump that she lacks “stamina”. He’s brought in perhaps the most effective surrogate in Utah, former GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, one of the country’s most prominent Mormons, who’s been recording robocalls and campaigning hard for Cruz.
Ohio Governor John Kasich focused heavily on Utah, holding a series of events in the state on Friday, including a rally in St. George, a heavily Mormon city in the southwest corner of Utah.
Democratic races Saturday in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington. He said, “This is a time when you have to keep your cool”.
“And we will send a clear signal that there is no daylight between America and our most reliable ally, the state of Israel”.
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Winning delegates, the people who endorse a candidate at the party conventions in July, is key to securing the nomination.
