Tuesday was no surprise on the Democratic side either, as the frontrunner extended her lead over challenger Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Like Trump, Clinton took seven states in all to Sanders’ four.<\/strong><\/p>\nIn her victory speech at the end of the day, Clinton didn’t waste time in attacking Sanders. Instead, she went after her likely GOP challenger.<\/p>\n
Taking a jab at Trump’s “Make America Great Again!” slogan, Clinton said, “We know we’ve got work to do, but that work, that work is not to make America great again. America never stopped being great.”<\/p>\n
Clinton won Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Arkansas. Sanders won his home state of Vermont, plus Colorado, Oklahoma, and Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Super Schmoozeday<\/strong><\/p>\nThere were no Spotlight<\/em>\u00a0surprise moments on Tuesday, with several races being called the minute polls closed by television news outlets rushing to declare the victor first. Cruz and Sanders both took their home states, as expected, and the favorites Trump and Clinton took the all-important Virginia.<\/p>\nCruz winning Texas and Rubio sweeping Minnesota for his debut victory only put Trump closer to securing the GOP nomination.<\/p>\n
The two main challengers to Trump doubled down late Tuesday, reiterating that they aren’t dropping out to support each other. And Ohio Governor John Kasich and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, running fourth and fifth respectively, said they too aren’t suspending their campaigns.<\/p>\n
Rubio and Cruz, perhaps oddly, spoke last night as if they were the big winners.<\/p>\n
“So long as the field remains divided, Donald Trump’s path to the nomination remains more likely,” Cruz claimed. “For the candidates who have not yet won a state \u2026 I ask you to prayerfully consider our coming together.”<\/p>\n
Rubio said of his runner-up finish in Virginia, “We basically fought Donald Trump to a draw despite having to share the ballot with a number of people who probably took votes away,” the senator said, referring to also-rans Kasich and Carson.<\/p>\n
\n
Final Delegate Count on Super Tuesday<\/strong><\/p>\nRepublican (1,237 needed for nomination)<\/strong><\/p>\nTrump 316<\/p>\n
Cruz 226<\/p>\n
Rubio 106<\/p>\n
Kasich 25<\/p>\n
Carson 8<\/p>\n
Democratic (2,382 needed)<\/strong><\/p>\nClinton 1,001<\/p>\n
Sanders 371<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Update March 2, 2016: Since we first published this story, back-of-the-field GOP runner Ben Carson has announced that he sees “no path forward” in his campaign. Although he has not officially ended his run as yet, it’s expected that he may do so when he speaks on Friday at a Washington, D.C. conference. ——- Anyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":34159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Take Commanding Leads in Super Tuesday Showdown<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n