Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton dominated the ‘Super Tuesday’ primaries, with each capturing seven of the 11 States in play, but both may still be having their work cut out in the face of a spirted challenge from two Senators – Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders respectively.
The two front-runners won their respective primaries in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Virginia. Additionally, Trump picked up Vermont, while Clinton bagged Texas. Cruz won Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska, while Marco Rubio eked out his first victory from Minnesota. Clinton’s challenger, Sanders, won Colorado, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Vermont.
Trump, despite his impressive string of victories having won 10 of the 15 States thus far, faces a formidable challenge not only from fellow-contestants Cruz and Rubio, but also from key segments of the Republican establishment that still view him as an interloper.
The Cruz-Rubio duo, both first-term Senators of Cuban descent, seem convinced that between them, they can stop what otherwise seems to be an inexorable march of Trump to the nomination. “Donald Trump will never get to 1,237 delegates (needed to win the nomination)”, Rubio thundered on yet another TV show on Wednesday.
After the Super Tuesday contests, Trump led the table with 316 delegates, followed by Cruz with 226 and Rubio with 106. Although Cruz has won only four States in all, he has been helped in the delegate count by the strong pull of his victory in Texas, the biggest of the States thus far with as many as 155 delegates to offer.
Even if Rubio and Cruz believe that Trump’s advance has been all but checked, the billionaire’s supporters have on the contrary started already projecting him as the “presumptive Republican presidential nominee”.
Trump, dismissing the Cruz-Rubio challenge, projected himself as the only one who can defeat Hillary Clinton in the November election, asserting that his campaign has already expanded the Republican Party by drawing in people with Democratic leanings and independents.
He also proclaimed himself a “unifier” who can bring the crisis-ridden Republican Party together, remarking at a post-victory news conference on Tuesday night: “I am a unifier. I know people are going to find that a bit hard to believe but believe me, I am a unifier. I think we’re going to be more inclusive, I think we’re going to be more unified, and I think we’re going to win in November.”
“Once we get all of this finished I’m going to go after Hillary Clinton, on the assumption she’s allowed to run, which is a big assumption,” he said, asserting that after her private e-mail server controversy she ought not be allowed to run for the high office.
Clinton, too, made it clear that she will go after Trump in the coming days, signalling that she has largely overcome Sanders’ challenge for the nomination, despite Sanders himself making it clear that he would continue his battle all the way to the Democratic convention in July.