BALTIMORE, Maryland March 2, 2016 - With "Super Tuesday" over and the frontrunners in each party even more firmly in control of the their respective leads, the inevitable movement among the also-rans and runners-up is continuing at a more certain and inevitable pace. As this post is being written, word has come that Dr. Ben Carson has canceled his scheduled appearance at Thursday Night's Republican debate in Detroit. Carson is said to have sent a letter or email to supporters stating that he sees no "political way forward." The letter says his 'movement' will continue. I don't know exactly what that means. Carson finished fourth in most of the primaries on Super Tuesday, ahead of only Ohio Governor John Kasich. Both were far behind the GOP leader, Donald Trump, and his closest competitor, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was third in almost all of the elections yesterday.
Trump won seven primary elections yesterday, while Cruz won three. Rubio did win one, his first and only victory in a single state election or caucus thus far. Yet to hear his speech last night absent the facts, one would have thought he was breathing down Trump's neck. Rubio's win came in erstwhile Minnesota, the state that elected as a Senator the downright weird Al Franken. Terrific. Cruz claimed impressive wins in Texas - his home state - as well as in Oklahoma and Alaska. Trump, however, took home the lions' share of the wins, finishing first in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Arkansas, Virginia and Tennessee.
In the delegate race - with 1237 needed to win and 1777 still up for grabs after Super Tuesday - Trump has the lead with 319 delegates, Cruz is in a respectable second place with 226, Rubio is a distant third with 110, followed by Kasich with 25 and Dr. Carson with 8.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton could have buried Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, but she didn't, although in the end her wins were just as impressive as were Trump's. Clinton also won seven primary elections on Tuesday: Massachusetts, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. Sanders was victorious in his home state of Vermont, but also in Oklahoma, Colorado and Minnesota. Because of the Democratic Party's arcane habit of naming "super delegates" which are able to vote for whomever they care to at the Democratic Convention this summer, Ms. Clinton's delegate lead is far larger than Trump's even though Trump has just as many, if not more, primary wins. With 2383 delegates needed to win, and 3286 still up for grabs, Clinton leads Sanders, 1052 to 427 in committed delegates.
Some Democratic "leaders" have been pushing the notion that "super delegates" need to follow the will of the people when casting their votes at the party's convention this summer. Such pressure may be effective if Sanders is far ahead of Clinton come convention time; otherwise, the so-called "leaders" are only blowing smoke.
Meanwhile, former GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney has announced that he will make a "major speech" on Thursday. There was no hint about what the speech would touch on, but Romney has been highly critical of Donald Trump, and it is certain he will speak about the impact of Trump's lead on the Republican party.
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