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Clinton off to a flier on Super Tuesday as Trump pulls away in early states | Clinton off to a flier on Super Tuesday as Trump pulls away in early states |
(35 minutes later) | |
A pitched battle for the White House between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton moved closer to becoming reality as both leapt further ahead in the first battleground states of a marathon Super Tuesday. | A pitched battle for the White House between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton moved closer to becoming reality as both leapt further ahead in the first battleground states of a marathon Super Tuesday. |
On the most important night of the presidential race so far, early results from states in the east and south showed Clinton grinding down the challenge from Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. Early results also pointed toward Trump taking a commanding lead in the bitterly fought race for the Republican nomination. | On the most important night of the presidential race so far, early results from states in the east and south showed Clinton grinding down the challenge from Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. Early results also pointed toward Trump taking a commanding lead in the bitterly fought race for the Republican nomination. |
Voters were having their say across 12 states from Alaska in the west to Massachusetts in the east, Minnesota in the north and Texas in the south. And with hundreds of delegates at stake in the nomination battles, Super Tuesday was shaping up to be a defining night. | Voters were having their say across 12 states from Alaska in the west to Massachusetts in the east, Minnesota in the north and Texas in the south. And with hundreds of delegates at stake in the nomination battles, Super Tuesday was shaping up to be a defining night. |
By 9pm EST, the Associated Press had declared that Clinton and Trump had each won five states, cementing their frontrunner status. | |
Clinton won in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, while Sanders won his home state of Vermont. | |
Trump won the first five Republican results, losing in Oklahoma to Ted Cruz, who also won his home state of Texas. | |
Shortly before 9pm EST, Clinton Appearing at a noisy victory rally in Miami, Florida, a hoarse-sounding Clinton shouted: “What a Super Tuesday!” | |
Looking ahead to New Orleans, Detroit and the looming contests in Louisiana and Michigan, she said: “Now this campaign goes forward to the Crescent City, the Motor City and beyond.” | |
And looking farther down the road to a potential head-to-head with Trump, she said: “I’m going to keep saying it: I believe what we need in America today is more love and kindness.” | |
“The stakes have never been higher,” she said, “the rhetoric we are hearing on the other side has never been lower.” | |
Sanders won resoundingly in his home state of Vermont. However, his campaign team and his wife, Jane, had conceded earlier that the day ahead looked difficult. “It’s a rough map for us,” said the senator’s wife, as the campaign team returned to their home in Burlington after clocking up a 6,200-mile trip to eight states in three days. | |
Clinton swept convincingly through the southern states of Virginia and Georgia - called by Associated Press the moment the polls closed at 7pm EST, and an hour later in Alabama and Tennessee. It appeared that black voters had once again rallied for her, leaving her 74-year-old rival facing the uncomfortable truth that his political revolution had failed to catch alight away from predominantly whiter states and college campuses. | |
With three-quarters of the Virginia votes counted, Clinton led 64-34. In Georgia, the margin was 74-25 with one quarter of votes counted. | |
“It’s good to be home,” said a tired-sounding Bernie Sanders as he celebrated a thumping win in his home state Vermont, by a margin of 87 top 12 with one in five votes counted. | |
“I am so proud to bring Vermont values all across this country. Tonight you are going to see a lot of election results come in ... but remember this is not a general election, this is not winner takes all. By the end of tonight we are going to win many hundreds of delegates,” he added. | |
“Let me assure you, we are going to take our fight ... to every one of the states.” | “Let me assure you, we are going to take our fight ... to every one of the states.” |
In the Republican race, Associated Press declared Trump the winner in Georgia at 7.39 EST. And Trump was named winner in Alabama, Massachusetts and Tennessee as soon as polls closed at 8pm EST. He was pushed hard by establishment hopeful Marco Rubio in Virginia, but prevailed. Shortly after 9pm EST, Cruz won two states - Texas and Oklahoma was declared the winner in Cruz’s home state of Texas. | |
Trump’s successful run of results, which has owed as much to the fractured nature of the Republican field as to his own brutish determination to tap into the mood of anger at large in the US. | |
In Vermont, Trump was apparently in a much closer contest with the Ohio governor John Kasich, mirroring last month’ s result in New Hampshire. | In Vermont, Trump was apparently in a much closer contest with the Ohio governor John Kasich, mirroring last month’ s result in New Hampshire. |
The Sanders campaign was also still hopeful of upsets in Colorado, Oklahoma. | |
Frontrunners start to size each other up | Frontrunners start to size each other up |
However the early results – and some of the language from frontrunners on a day of grueling campaign travel – suggested that Trump and Clinton were already sizing up one another. | However the early results – and some of the language from frontrunners on a day of grueling campaign travel – suggested that Trump and Clinton were already sizing up one another. |
Both frontrunners ended the night with rallies in Florida, the clearest indication they were pushing past Super Tuesday to the next contests. Florida is in play on 15 March in the primaries and will be key to the hopes of both parties in the presidential run-off in November. | Both frontrunners ended the night with rallies in Florida, the clearest indication they were pushing past Super Tuesday to the next contests. Florida is in play on 15 March in the primaries and will be key to the hopes of both parties in the presidential run-off in November. |
Clinton had travelled from Minnesota where, in a Minneapolis coffee shop, she took questions from the travelling press for the first time in 88 days. Asked if Sanders still had a path forward after Super Tuesday, she said: “We just want to do as well as we can ... Let’s see what voters decide in all these states that are lined up today and then we’ll take stock after it’s over.” | Clinton had travelled from Minnesota where, in a Minneapolis coffee shop, she took questions from the travelling press for the first time in 88 days. Asked if Sanders still had a path forward after Super Tuesday, she said: “We just want to do as well as we can ... Let’s see what voters decide in all these states that are lined up today and then we’ll take stock after it’s over.” |
On Trump becoming the nominee, she said: “Obviously he’s done very well. He could be on the path.” | On Trump becoming the nominee, she said: “Obviously he’s done very well. He could be on the path.” |
But she also criticised him for failing to distance himself from the support of former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. “I was very disappointed that he did not disavow what appears to be support from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan that is exactly kind of the statement that should be repudiated upon hearing it.” | But she also criticised him for failing to distance himself from the support of former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. “I was very disappointed that he did not disavow what appears to be support from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan that is exactly kind of the statement that should be repudiated upon hearing it.” |
Trump told an audience in an Ohio aircraft hangar on Tuesday that he was the only Republican capable of beating Clinton, vowing to raise every day the controversy over her use of a private email address as secretary of state. “Clinton does not have the strength or the stamina to be president,” he claimed, deriding his nearest Republican opponents as “Little Marco” Rubio and “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz. | Trump told an audience in an Ohio aircraft hangar on Tuesday that he was the only Republican capable of beating Clinton, vowing to raise every day the controversy over her use of a private email address as secretary of state. “Clinton does not have the strength or the stamina to be president,” he claimed, deriding his nearest Republican opponents as “Little Marco” Rubio and “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz. |
Within the Republican hierarchy, however, there was little enthusiasm for a Trump candidacy. House speaker Paul Ryan also expressed grave concern that Trump had still not unequivocally disavowed the support of the KKK chief. Ryan warned: “If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican party … they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry.” | Within the Republican hierarchy, however, there was little enthusiasm for a Trump candidacy. House speaker Paul Ryan also expressed grave concern that Trump had still not unequivocally disavowed the support of the KKK chief. Ryan warned: “If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican party … they must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry.” |
In the Republican field – down to a final five – Rubio is yet to win a race, but hopes that a significant number of second-place finishes would confirm him as the only hope of stopping Trump. | In the Republican field – down to a final five – Rubio is yet to win a race, but hopes that a significant number of second-place finishes would confirm him as the only hope of stopping Trump. |
He could theoretically start to close the gap in states such as Ohio and Florida, which operate a “winner takes all” approach to allocating the delegates who need to be amassed before the Republican convention in July. Cruz would have a reason to stay in the race with a win in Texas. Ohio senator John Kasich has indicated he will stick around until his home state votes on 15 March, while soft-spoken outsider Ben Carson has also shown no appetite for removing himself from the race. | He could theoretically start to close the gap in states such as Ohio and Florida, which operate a “winner takes all” approach to allocating the delegates who need to be amassed before the Republican convention in July. Cruz would have a reason to stay in the race with a win in Texas. Ohio senator John Kasich has indicated he will stick around until his home state votes on 15 March, while soft-spoken outsider Ben Carson has also shown no appetite for removing himself from the race. |
Sanders voted yesterday in his home state after covering thousands of miles since his Saturday defeat in South Carolina. | Sanders voted yesterday in his home state after covering thousands of miles since his Saturday defeat in South Carolina. |
He has already indicated that he intends to fight on until the Democratic convention in July. However, whilst he has the funds to do so, he is likely to have little realistic prospect of catching Clinton, leaving his campaign to function merely as a vehicle for keeping the spotlight on his core issues of inequality, corporate greed, free healthcare and college education. | He has already indicated that he intends to fight on until the Democratic convention in July. However, whilst he has the funds to do so, he is likely to have little realistic prospect of catching Clinton, leaving his campaign to function merely as a vehicle for keeping the spotlight on his core issues of inequality, corporate greed, free healthcare and college education. |
The early Super Tuesday results are broadly in line with opinion poll projections and, while still leaving a mathematical chance that Trump and Clinton can be caught, suggest that voters in November’s general election will be presented with one of the starkest electoral choices in a generation: the first woman president or a brash billionaire whose remarkable success has been forged by rejecting all the rules of modern politics. | The early Super Tuesday results are broadly in line with opinion poll projections and, while still leaving a mathematical chance that Trump and Clinton can be caught, suggest that voters in November’s general election will be presented with one of the starkest electoral choices in a generation: the first woman president or a brash billionaire whose remarkable success has been forged by rejecting all the rules of modern politics. |