The Campaign Trail 2016: Super Saturday plus the events on Sunday

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 5^th, 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 8^th, 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 15^th, states have to award delegates proportionally based on performance at the polls. Starting on March 15^th 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 8^th.

Return on March 7^th for the next update on The Campaign Trail 2016.

The Campaign Trail 2016: Super Tuesday is over, what comes next?

Donald Trump won big for the Republican Party and former Senator Hillary Clinton won big for the Democratic Party on Super Tuesday. Both will be looking to continue their momentum as their opponents try to knock them out of their front running positions on Saturday. As things heat up for the Republican and Democratic parties, the Libertarian party announces its first debate for the 2016 presidential campaign.

After the results of Super Tuesday, former GOP presidential nominee hopeful Gov. Chris Christie stumped for Trump appearing with the billionaire for his speech and hyping up his campaign hoping to keep Trump's momentum going and attract more of the party to his campaign.

Meanwhile on Thursday morning the GOP 2012 Republican presidential nominee, former Gov. Mitt Romney made a highly publicized speech attacking Trump. Romney lambasted the billionaire 2016 Republican front runner while urging voters to go with Senator Ted Cruz, Gov. John Kasich, or Senator Marco Rubio instead, strangely leaving out Ben Carson of the statement.

After Super Tuesday Carson opted not to attend the Republican debate on Thursday night, but he did not officially suspend his campaign until Friday evening.

“I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” said the official statement released by Carson's campaign on March 2^nd.

Despite doing only slightly better than Carson at the polls, there is no sign yet that Kasich is suspending his campaign. The far from the lead third place contender Rubio has stated he is not suspending his campaign.

“No matter how many states it takes, no matter how many weeks and months it takes, we are going to stop Donald Trump, and win this election,” said Rubio's campaign in an email sent out to likely supporters on March 3rd.

After seeing Thursday night's GOP debate, not attending might have managed to actually boost Carson since this debate caused the three major candidates to sink even lower than previous debates, however he was at the point there was no chance he could get the Republican nomination. Somehow now even Trump's penis size was a debatable topic between Rubio and Trump in this debate.

How any of this will potentially effect what voters do at the polls on Saturday is unknown. Will Trump keep up his dominating winning streak? Will Cruz push his way toward the top? Can Rubio get himself out of his floundering third place standing? Will Kasich continue to stay in the race? On Saturday we will find out when Kansas, Kentucky, and Maine hold their caucuses and Louisiana holds its primary.

In a far more civil appearing battle Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders continue to battle it out in their close race for the Democratic nomination. Sanders had a disappointing day on Super Tuesday only taking four states.

Then another blow came to his campaign. Sanders' win in Colorado on Super Tuesday became a win in name only. Sanders won the popular vote but due to delegate dispersion, he and former Senator Hillary Clinton managed to tie in the state, each walking away with 38 delegates.

Sanders' campaign has been promoting much better results for the candidate projecting wins in three states over the weekend. This is a move obviously designed to bring out Sanders' supporters and keep them from being frustrated after Super Tuesday, but if Sanders can't win the three projected states this prediction could sink his campaign.

Saturday the two will face off at the Kansas and Nebraska caucuses and Louisiana primary. The two will also face off in the Maine caucuses on Sunday.

The Libertarian party announced Wednesday that a televised debate of the Libertarian presidential candidates will take place on Fox Business Network on April 1^st and will be moderated by John Stossel. This is a great opportunity for voters, who have been vocalizing dissatisfaction with the elites of their prospective parties, to see the different potential Libertarian nominees before the general election. There are currently 12 candidates vying for the nomination including the 2012 Libertarian Party nominee former Gov. Gary Johnson and cybersecurity expert John McAfee. Not all of the candidates will be participating in the debate. The Libertarian nominee will be picked at the Libertarian Party National Convention that runs from May 27 until May 30 in Orlando, Florida.

For the next coverage of The Campaign Trail 2016 for the Republican and Democratic parties, come back after the Saturday caucuses and primary results are finalized. Coverage of the Libertarian party will be available when more information is released.