This presidential race has taken an interesting turn after many folks assumed that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had virtually pocketed their respective nominations. As we saw in Wisconsin tonight, that is not the case. Trump and Ted Cruz ran a close battle in the polls leading up to Tuesday’s primary, but Trump lost his foothold, perhaps because Wisconsin’s Republicans skew to the more conservative end of the spectrum (and he can’t make up his mind on the abortion issue). In sharp contrast, Cruz plays to the Christian Coalition and seldom wavers. So, Wisconsin turned into a battleground state with a winner-take-most approach to Republican delegates. As of a few days ago, Trump sure thought he was going to win this one.
Thank you! #Trump2016 #WIPrimary pic.twitter.com/alx0AY6E8J
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2016
On the left side, Bernie Sanders is picking up all the delegates he can hold with both hands (although the Democrats take a proportional delegate approach in this state). The DNC may be busy denying accusations of “c*ckblocking” when it comes to super delegates, but Sanders keeps trucking and scooping up states on the way. There may be a contested convention in the future, but we’ll see what happens. Here this evening’s early results.
GOP: Cruz (49%) easily wins this state with Trump (35%) and Kasich (14%) following.
Dems: Sanders (56%) claims a clear victory from Clinton (44%).
Trump acted like a sore loser over his disappointing evening and issued a tantrum-y statement from his campaign:
Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin’ Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him … Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet — he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond.
(Via CNN & New York Times)