Trump, Clinton win Arizona primary
WASHINGTON — Long lines and high interest marked primary contests in three Western states on Tuesday as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton sought to extend their delegate leads in a fresh round of voting for would-be commanders-in-chief.
In Arizona, where some voters waited two hours to cast ballots, Trump picked up 58 delegates in the winner-take-all Republican contest. Clinton also won in Arizona, although the Democratic vote was not a winner-take-all scenario.
The elections in Arizona, Utah and Idaho were largely an afterthought for much of the day as the world grappled with the bloody attacks in Brussels.
Yet there was a frenzy of activity in Utah as voters lined up to caucus and the state Democratic Party’s website crashed due to high traffic. In Arizona, police were called to help with traffic control and at least one polling place ran out of ballots.
Trump and Clinton both enjoyed overwhelming delegate leads heading into Tuesday’s contests. Arizona and Utah featured elections for both parties, while Idaho Democrats also held presidential caucuses.
Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republicans Ted Cruz and John Kasich hoped to reverse the sense of inevitability taking hold around both party front-runners.
As voters flooded to the polls, the presidential candidates lashed out at each other’s foreign policy prescriptions.
Trump charged that the United States has “no choice” but to adopt his proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the country to prevent the spread of terrorism. He also described as “eggheads” those who respect international law’s ban on torture.
Clinton and Trump’s Republican rivals, meanwhile, questioned the Republican front-runner’s temperament and readiness to serve as commander-in-chief.
“Some of my opponents want to build walls and shut the world off. Well, you tell me, how high does the wall have to be to keep the Internet out,” Clinton asked Tuesday in Everett, Wash.
Cruz seized on Trump’s foreign policy inexperience while declaring that the U.S. is at war with the Islamic State group.