Businessman Donald Trump was hoping to give the knockout blow to Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen.
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“While we are on the right side, this year we will not be on the winning side”, Rubio told supporters.
Trump didn’t name any senators in his interview on MSNBC the morning after his wins in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina Tuesday night. And she’s widened her delegate lead over Bernie Sanders.
Mrs Clinton entered the night with 768 pledged delegates compared with 554 for Mr Sanders, with 2383 necessary to win the nomination.
The emphasis both candidates have put on the March 15 contest is evident from their ad spending heading into Tuesday night.
Republican voters continue to back Trump’s most controversial proposals, with two-thirds of those who participated in GOP primaries Tuesday saying they support temporarily banning Muslims from the United States, according to exit polls.
The Tuesday outcome was seen as pivotal for Republicans because, for the first time, two states – OH and Florida – had winner-take-all contests.
An emboldened Donald Trump offered himself Wednesday as the inevitable Republican presidential nominee after his latest string of wins and called on balky GOP leaders to embrace the voters’ “tremendous fervor” for his candidacy. Ted Cruz of Texas can win the fall presidential election.
“Clinton found her footing in OH on issues, as well, to some extent defanging Sanders on free trade – she won antitrade voters, a group Sanders took in Michigan”, Langer writes.
Of course, Rubio’s withdrawal unbinds most of his 170 delegates, and Cruz hopes to pick those up on the first ballot. Yes, he still has the overwhelming support of young people and in states where independents can vote in the Democratic primary, he’s getting their support.
He said after yesterday’s primaries: “While it is not God’s plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever, and while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I’ve even come this far is evidence of how special America truly is and all the more reason why we must do all we can to make sure this nation remains a special place”.
Sanders, addressing supporters in Phoenix, said his campaign had “come a long way” but made no mention of Tuesday’s results during an hourlong speech. If neither can remove the other from the race, Trump could clinch the nod before the convention in Kasich’s Cleveland.
Sanders’ team said the calendar would be more favorable in the weeks ahead and vowed to go through the Democratic convention.
With about 60 percent of the party’s total delegates already awarded, Trump has won about 47 percent.
“We have to bring our party together”, Trump said. Most prominently his expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, a decision he defends as caring for the poor but could be rich fodder for Cruz, a tea party hero who rose to prominence by triggering a government shutdown meant to defund the program. But, he added: “I ask the American people: Do not give into fear”.
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Without naming names, Trump said some of the same Republican senators who are publicly running him down have called him privately to say they want to “become involved” in his campaign, eventually. Rubio left the race with 168 delegates.
