Republican party split as Trump surges ahead
REPUBLICAN leaders were yesterday scrabbling for a last-chance option that could derail Donald Trump’s momentum in the US presidential nomination race.
It followed billionaire businessman Trump’s surge ahead on Super Tuesday when he gained the upper hand over his rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio with seven state victories.
The Republican split widened between Trump supporters and the party’s more establishment mainstream as Democrats showed increasing cohesion with Hillary Clinton also winning seven states on the way to regaining her status as the inevitable nominee.
The former US secretary of state,’s dominance with black voters carried her to wins across the south.
Still, socialist Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, whose popularity has risen throughout the campaign, picked up wins in his home state and in Minnesota, Oklahoma and Colorado, and he vowed to fight on.
Overshadowed by Trump’s wins, Texas senator Ted Cruz rolled to a close second in the night’s delegate count with a victory in his home state. That showing bolstered his
‘Cruz is the only way to stop Trump’
case to be the party’s Trump alternative, even as rival Florida senator Marco Rubio promised to continue his fight. He hopes to win his home state on March 15.
After a poor showing in Republicans contests so far, retired surgeon Ben Carson effectively pulled out of the race, saying he saw no path forward and announcing he would not be at today’s Republican debate.
The Republican division represents the party’s biggest crisis in years, with the prospect of nominating an unpredicatble presidential candidate it can’t control.
Some party leaders are considering the once-unthinkable option of aligning behind the conservative firebrand Cruz, whom many dislike. Others are talking of a contested convention, where none of the candidates has won sufficient delegates in primaries and caucuses to assure nomination.
Some influential power brokers even raise the option of forming a new party. Republican leaders also fear that a Trump nomination could damage party incumbents in the US senate who could be voted out of office in swing states known to support either major party, thus costing Republicans their majority in Congress. An Associated Press delegate count indicates Trump will have to do better in future contests to claim the nomination before the party’s July convention. So far, he has won 46% of the delegates awarded, and he would have to increase that to 52% in the remaining primaries.
The next round of voting in a busy March comes Saturday, with Louisiana’s primary, Republican caucuses in Kentucky and Maine, a Democratic caucus in Nebraska and caucuses for both parties in Kansas.
Trump won handily in Super Tuesday primary and caucus states as politically opposite as Massachusetts and Alabama – a sign of his broad, outsider appeal.
Along with Texas, Cruz took neighbouring Oklahoma as well as Alaska. Rubio won only liberal Minnesota.
Despite Trump’s victories, many Republican leaders remained deeply sceptical he could beat Clinton in a head-to-head match-up in November. ‘Ted Cruz is not my favourite by any means,’ South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham told CBS. ‘But we may be in a position where rallying around Ted Cruz is the only way to stop Donald Trump, and I’m not so sure that would work.’
Trump won at least 234 delegates on Tuesday, and Cruz won at least 209. Rubio was a distant third with at least 90. Securing the nomination requires 1,237 delegates. Overall, Trump leads with 316 delegates, Cruz has 226 and Rubio has 106.
Meanwhile, Clinton was assured of winning at least 457 of the 865 delegates at stake on Tuesday. Sanders gains at least 286. Clinton has at least 1,005 delegates and Sanders has 373. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democrat nomination.