Clinton turns her focus to GOP
GOP candidates make plans for next stage of campaign
Donald Trump scored wins in at least six states on Super Tuesday, the opening results in a slate of delegate contests that could set the stage for the end of the Republican presidential race.
Trump took Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Massachusetts and Virginia, while Vermont remained too close to call.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won his home state and Oklahoma. Cruz, who needed to win Texas to remain competitive, was second in Arkansas.
Marco Rubio won his first contest, the caucuses in Minnesota, and was a close second to Trump in Virginia, while John Kasich battled the billionaire front-runner in Vermont.
Trump appeared at a news conference in Florida after most of the results had been counted and was introduced by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who endorsed Trump last week.
“Making America great again is going to be so much better than making America whole again,” Trump said, taking a jab at Democrat Hillary Clinton’s victory speech. Trump said he could unify the Republican Party, despite the declarations of some Republican officials that they would not support him if he was the party’s nominee.
Christie, who had previously questioned Trump’s fitness for office, remained onstage during the news conference.
Cruz declared victory in Texas and said he was the only candidate who had beaten Trump. Cruz won the Iowa caucuses, as well as Texas and Oklahoma. He attacked Trump as not sufficiently conservative.
Rubio vowed to keep running, saying his poll standing was rising while Trump’s was falling. The Florida senator is taking aim at the March 15 primary in his home state. Trump and Cruz had indicated they would pressure Rubio to drop out if he did not carry a single state on Super Tuesday.
“I think he has to get out,” Trump told Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning. “He hasn’t won anything and Ted Cruz very rightly points out Marco has not won. ... I would think he would have to get out.”
Cruz also told reporters that a candidate who has not won a state after Tuesday’s events should consider getting out.
“If you want to beat Donald Trump, we’ve got to get to a headto-head, a one-on-one race,” Cruz said, noting that he has proved he can beat the New York billionaire via his victory in the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.
Cruz also said that, on Tuesday and in primaries and caucuses to follow, the name of the game is delegate acquisition ahead of the Republican convention in July.
Rubio is not apt to take his rivals’ advice, saying he expects to pick up many delegates Tuesday and to sweep to victory in Florida in two weeks.
As returns came in Tuesday, the Rubio campaign sent an e-mail to supporters vowing a “long war” against Trump, saying that “we are NOT going to hand over our party to a dangerous con artist.”
In a Twitter post earlier in the day, the Florida senator said that while he has joked about Trump’s foibles in recent campaign appearances, “here’s the scary reality: Donald Trump is dangerous.”
Kasich, the governor of Ohio, also hopes to be the last candidate standing between Trump and the nomination, figuring that establishment forces will then rally around him. While Kasich is considered an underdog in the states voting Tuesday, he is looking ahead to more favorable primaries in his neighboring state of Michigan (next Tuesday) and his home state of Ohio (March 15).