Here is your Tuesday vote watch thread. Michigan, Mississippi top the list. At issue: Will Cruz trump Trump? Is Bernie burnt? Hillary has well earned the $250,000+ she is apparently paying herself from her campaign funds (good luck figuring out the prevarications on this latest mess).
Craig Crawford
If it’s Tuesday it must be Trump
More vote counting today. Michigan is the big one, testing whether Mitt Romney made a difference against Trump in his so called home state. Trump is way ahead in Michigan and Mississippi, also voting today. Handicappers are saying that anything less than double-digit leads will be a sign Trump is losing momentum.
Bloomberg Out
For those who view the coming presidential choices as Hobson’s headache, count out Michael Bloomberg as an option for an alternative. He is out.
Bernie Doesn’t Get His Moment
In Sunday night’s debate Bernie Sanders pushed hard on trade and Wall Street issues where Hillary Clinton is certainly vulnerable, but landed no hits that she couldn’t diffuse by changing the subject, counter punching and occasionally with outright prevarication. Flustered and flummoxed, Sanders basically threw in the towel. One wonders if Trump is her debate foe in the Fall whether he will rise to the occasion.
Cruz, Sanders Still Here
(AP) — Ted Cruz cinched double-barreled victories in Kansas and Maine, and Donald Trump captured Louisiana in Saturday’s four-state round of Republican voting, fresh evidence that there’s no quick end in sight to the fractious GOP race for president.
Bernie Sanders notched a win in Nebraska and state party officials gave him a victory in Kansas, while Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton snagged Louisiana.
Early returns showed Cruz and Trump were in a tight race for Kentucky.
Despite the support of many elected officials in Kansas, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came up short, raising serious questions about his viability in the race.
On the Democratic side, meanwhile, Sanders won by a solid margin in Nebraska and Kansas.
Heading into Saturday’s voting, Clinton had 1,066 delegates to Sanders’ 432, including super delegates — members of Congress, governors and party officials who can support the candidate of their choice. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination. There were 109 at stake on Saturday.
In the overall race for GOP delegates, including partial results for Kansas, Trump led with 347 and Cruz had 267. Rubio had 116 delegates and Kasich had 28.
Cruz will collect at least 36 delegates for winning the Republican caucuses in Kansas and Maine, Trump at least 18 and Rubio at least six and Kasich three.
It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.