On Super Saturday, Donald Trump and
Senator Ted Cruz split the Republican caucuses and primary while
Senator Bernie Sanders cleans up the Democratic caucuses and primary.
Sunday Senator Marco Rubio got his second win of the campaign and
Sanders won again in a landslide victory.
Saturday, Sanders won both of the two
Democratic caucuses that took place, Kansas and Nebraska. Former
Senator Hillary Clinton took the Democratic primary in Louisiana.
Kansas was a major landslide in Sanders' favor, gaining 68 percent of
the vote and 23 delegates. Sanders also won Nebraska, in a much
closer contest with 57 percent of the vote and gained an additional
14 delegates. Clinton added 10 delegates to her count from each of
those states.
Clinton took Louisiana in a landslide
victory carrying 71 percent of the vote and netting another 35
delegates. Sanders added an additional 12 delegates from the Bayou
State.
On Sunday, Sanders had another
landslide victory in the Maine Caucuses. The full count is still
ongoing and the delegates haven't been fully divided up yet.
So how are the two major candidates in
the Democratic presidential primaries actually doing so far? For the
Democrats, it is all about the delegates. They are awarded
proportionally by how well a performance was done in the polls. As
of March 5th, Clinton has won 652 delegates through the
polls and Sanders has won 454 delegates. Neither of these counts
bring in superdelegates. Sanders needs to get more wins in the
states with higher delegate awards if he is going to close the gap
between himself and Clinton. The first one to 2,383 delegates,
including superdelegates, gets the Democratic presidential nomination
and there are still 3,136 delegates up for grabs.
Next up for the Democrats are Michigan
and Mississippi on March 8th, which is the same day that
Democrats Abroad finish their voting.
Saturday, Cruz took Kansas with a
landslide 48 percent of the votes netting him 24 delegates. Trump
came in second with 23 percent of the vote and nine delegates. Rubio
came in third with 17 percent of the vote and received six delegates.
Kasich came in last and received one delegate.
Cruz also took Maine's caucuses with 46
percent of the vote picking up 12 more delegates. Trump came in
second with 33 percent of the vote and gaining nine more delegates.
Kasich came in third with 12 percent of the vote and added two
delegates. Rubio came in last and received no delegates in the
dispersion.
Trump took Kentucky in a very close
contest gaining 36 percent of the vote and 17 delegates. Cruz was a
narrow second with 32 percent of the vote getting 15 delegates.
Rubio came in a distant third with 16 percent of the vote and Kasich
came in last. Rubio and Kasich each collected seven delegates.
Trump also came in first in another
close contest in Louisiana. The Bayou State gave Trump 41 percent of
the vote and second place finisher Cruz 38 percent of the vote. Both
collected 18 delegates each. Rubio came in very distant third with
11 percent of the vote and collected five delegates. Kasich came in
last and received no reward for that.
Sunday Puerto Rico held their
primaries. Being a territory, despite desperately wanting to be a
state, Puerto Rico can't participate in the general election but gets
to participate in the presidential nomination process. Rubio
reportedly took Puerto Rico with a landslide and got all 23 of their
delegates.
Cutting through all the propaganda,
myths, inaccuracies, and false speculation, how are the candidates
actually doing at this point? There are 1,585 delegates left to be
awarded through the Republican primary process and a candidate needs
to collect 1,237 delegates to become the Republican nominee. From
worst to best here are the remaining Republican presidential
candidates.
Kasich should have dropped out a long
time ago. He gained a measly 10 delegates over the weekend, bringing
his grand total up to 35 delegates – keeping him far – and dead
last – from everyone who hasn't suspended their campaigns. Kasich
has failed to win a single state or territory so far. Kasich stated
Sunday morning to George Stephanopoulos on This Week that he
is staying in the election. He alluded to, but never directly
stated, wanting a brokered Republican National Convention and getting
the Republican nomination through that process.
Rubio is in third place in the
nomination contest and also should have dropped out at this point.
He has won only two states and territories so far. This weekend
Rubio took in a total of 51 delegates and has a total of 146
delegates. As of now, Rubio needs to double his delegates just to
catch up with Cruz, who is in the second place slot right now.
Cruz has won a total of six states so
far for a total of 291 delegates. This weekend added 69 delegates to
Cruz's collection. With his growing number of wins as the contest
goes on, Cruz is still very capable of passing Trump and taking the
first place spot, especially if he can start taking the winner takes
all states.
And in first place is Trump with a
grand total of 12 wins and 375 delegates. This weekend added 53
delegates, which puts him in second for delegates over the weekend.
He has to keep up his wins to prevent Cruz from overtaking him.
So why all the talk about who came in
number one? Because the rules for the Republican primaries change
after four more states and the District of Columbia vote. Prior to
March 15th, states have to award delegates proportionally
based on performance at the polls. Starting on March 15th
some states become winner take all, which means that third and fourth
don't matter anymore.
Next up for the Republicans are Hawaii,
Idaho, Michigan, and Missouri on March 8th.
Return on March 7th for the
next update on The Campaign Trail 2016.
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