Hattip to Father Z for the video which accurately reflects my opinion of the primaries thus far this year. Tonight we have primaries in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri. If Trump takes both Florida and Ohio, both winner take all states, it is hard to see how he does not end up being the nominee. If he loses one, and if Cruz does well in North Carolina, Illinois and Missouri, we have a dog fight for the nomination. We’ll see soon enough.
Update 7:03 PM CST-Fox calls Florida for Trump. Rubio a lagging second. Bye, bye Rubio. Fox also calls Florida for Clinton.
Update 7:12 PM CST-Rubio speaking. Congratulates Trump for his victory in Florida. America is in the middle of a political storm. People are frustrated and angry. Left behind in the economy. People told they are bigots if they are against immigration. People are tired of being talked down to and looked down upon. (If he had been speaking with this type of passion throughout his campaign this might have been a very different night for him.) New economy offers opportunities but the transition is difficult. American can’t turn its back on the world or a dangerous chaos will result. The politics of resentment can only lead to a fractured nation. Nothing changed despite the voters giving Congress to the Republicans. Blames a political establishment that looks down on conservatives. A political establishment that confuses cronyism and capitalism. The nation needs a strong conservative movement, one that is based on ideas and principals and not upon anger and frustration. This was not the year for a hopeful and optimistic message. Parents of Rubio never became rich and famous but they realized the American dream through hard work and determination. Rubio announces suspension of his campaign. Rubio is out. (I predict we will hear more from Rubio in the future.) Rubio thanks God. God has a plan for all of our lives. Recites a prayer of King David.
Update 7:40 PM CST-Senior Rubio advisor just tweeted that it is now time for all conservatives to rally around Cruz.
Update 7:45 PM CST-Fox calls Ohio for Kasich. Fox calls Ohio for Clinton. Big defeat for Sanders. Trump probably loses his chance to come into the convention with enough delegates to win on the first ballot.
Update 8:00 PM CST-I will have mercy on you and not summarize Hillary’s victory screech speech.
Update 8:20 PM CST-Kasich is speaking. Touts his performance as governor. Not leaving anyone behind. Great American legacy that our kids will be better than we are. People counted him out. (Sheesh, John, you’ve won one, count ’em one, primary.) On to Pennsylvania. Conservative principals work. (I think that there is a good chance that Kasich will be the Veep no matter who the nominee is. Ohio is absolutely essential for the Republicans in the fall.
Update 8:35 PM CST-Fox calls North Carolina for Trump with Cruz a close second. North Carolina is a proportional state in the awarding of delegates.
Update 8:43 PM CST-Boo! Fox calls Illinois for Trump. Doesn’t mean the delegates might not end up being closely divided between Cruz and Trump as awarding delegates is done largely by who wins each congressional district.
And with that I will be turning in. More updates in the wee hours tomorrow. Two events of significance thus far: Rubio is out and Trump did not win Ohio.
Update 4:47 AM CST-With 99% of the votes counted, Trump leads in the Missouri primary by less than 2000 votes. In Illinois Cruz came in eight points behind Trump. Trump probably owes his victory in Illinois to the idiot leftists who caused the cancellation of his Chicago rally and which received mammoth publicity here. In North Carolina less than four points separated Cruz and Trump.
Veritas!
Truth!
We’re doing all we can for the cause here in Ohio.
It seems to me that Illinois will actually be one of the bigger indicators tonight with the delegates awarded by congressional district. Do you have any sense of how the land lies, Don?
Close between Cruz and Trump. The division of delegates will be interesting due to the gerrymandered Congressional districts set up by the Democrats.
Funny how some candidates seem to do best when they drop out.
.
It’s like they say what’s on their minds instead of saying what their consultants tell them they need to say based upon focus group studies and opinion polls.
Oh well. It was pretty nice in Rome for the first couple of centuries after the Republic fell. Maybe inertia will keep this thing together until I die. Still, it would have been nice to pass down Western civilization.
Are you sure that isn’t a clip from one of the debates?
🙂
I’m watching the Penguins hockey game. Sadly, our South Fayette Lions high school varsity team lost the Class A Penguins Cup today. They had their best season ever.
The young men learned an important lesson today. Sometimes, you can give your very best effort and actually perform above expectations, and still not succeed. Failure hurts, but there are no better teachers than disappointment and experience.
So the Stowe Township, Pennsylvania (McKees Rocks) native won his adopted home state. If you have ever been to McKees Rocks, you would understand why he left.
Much better than the primaries. At least they are singing the same tune. Not at all discordant, and as near as I can tell, it’s in the key of D Minor.
Rubiio’s speech was perfect. As Ernst said, it’s kind of sad how some of these candidates save their best for when they bow out.
Kasich is staying in merely to be kingmaker. I believe it is mathematically impossible for him to win the nomination except for a brokered convention, and delegates would be mad to nominate Kasich. It’s Cruz or Trump, now. Make your pick.
Kasich is running for veep. He gave as good a speech tonight as Rubio. If he throws it in for Trump I’ll have to use my ondansetron (again).
We may hear more from Rubio in the future, but I suspect that hardly anyone will pay attention. He pretty much made a fool of himself in the campaign, and he bows out telling everyone else what’s wrong with them.
I’m a Cruz guy, but it’s almost like they’re trying to get me to vote for Trump…
It’s going to be Trump vs. Hillary so I think the GOP would be well advised to concentrate on Senatorial and Congressional races, keeping control of the Senate being the highest priority.
I do hope Sanders stays in the race if only to be a thorn in Hillary’s side.
No surprises so far. Trump appears inevitable. Stopping him will get you Hillary.
@Michael Ready.
I’m feeling the same nudge,
and still fighting off the Trump fever.
BTW….are you from Watertown?
“No surprises so far. Trump appears inevitable. Stopping him will get you Hillary.”
Actually I think Cruz would have a decent shot at beating Clinton. However if Cruz gets the nomination I expect Trump to run third party and torpedo any chance to beat Clinton. For Trump this race is all about him. He has zip loyalty to anything other than his outsized ego. One of many reasons that Trump will never get a vote from me.
If Cruz can edge Trump out electorally, I will be pleased and deem my prayers answered. ( I know prayers are always answered when we ask aright but moving along.) I am dead against GOP chicanery at the convention and absolutely opposed to Hillary getting anywhere near the White House except in the capacity of a tourist. Trump’s rise seems a manifestation of a strong appeal to large numbers of people who usually do not vote, especially in primaries. The true numbers of unemployed and underemployed are concealed from official statistics but they nonetheless entail an enormous portion of the population. The radicalism of the current administration adds many others to the list of persons aggrieved who otherwise seldom vote but this time will. Our response to this situation should not pave the way for Hillary”s election, the ultimate disaster.
He’s got that in common with a not insignificant portion of the Republican Party political eastablishment.
.
And certain segments of the conservative media infrastructure too, I suppose.
Correction to my previous post: “Hillary’s election, the penultimate disaster.” Followed by the end of the world. I agree with Ernst, there are egos all around. Starting with the seventeen egos who against all humble hope divided the field allowing a minority appealing Trump to go so far. Now it appears we are stuck with him. To paraphrase Will Rogers, I do not belong to an organized political party. I’m a Republican.
That was more a comment about loyalty, which is a one way street as far as the GOPe are concerned, than about ego.
.
Although, I guess the ego thing applies to some professional conseratives who bloviate for a living.