The winners of the night are Hillary Clinton and secondarily Donald Trump.
Hillary won three states, including the very important Ohio, and lost none in EDT prime time. She gave a prime time speech which at least one commentator called one of her best. Either she or Bernie Sanders will get bragging rights when Missouri and Illinois are decided, but they are both so close that each candidate is likely to receive about the same number of delegates from those states. Which again is a win for Hillary, who is well ahead.
Donald Trump won Florida early, and so it was Goodbye Rubio Tuesday, who could hang a name on you-- when you changed with every new day, still they're gonna miss you. Now he can do what he may well be aching to do--cash in on his brand and get rich.
But it looked like Trump might miss the rest of prime time until suddenly he was declared the winner in North Carolina and Illinois. He made a short but rambling speech and reportedly looked tired. He complained that his day on the golf course with other rich guys was ruined by overhearing ads against him. Poor guy. Another reason for his working class devotees to get angry.
John Kasich won his home state of Ohio. His victory speech began with being introduced as the next President of the United States and ended with confetti dropping from the ceiling. So he got a taste of The Show that most politicians don't, worth all his time away from actually being governor while spending other people's money. Remember this moment, John.
Tail Gunner Ted made his usual softly vicious speech, and since he came in second in several states, will reap some delegates, with Missouri still undecided. If Cruz and/or Sanders win Missouri, it will be after the late news. But that's when St. Louis reports, which is probably good for Hillary and Trump.
Kasich winning winner-take-all Ohio is pretty good news for Trump, as it means that with Kasich staying in the race, Trump can keep winning in remaining states with 40% but under 50% of the votes cast. But it's also bad news in that it makes it much more difficult for him to achieve a majority of delegates before the convention. So it wasn't the best night for him.
Kasich's victory speech and Rubio's concession speech were both interrupted by a Trumpophyte. Sign of things to come?
Clinton's largest margin of the night is Florida--where the majority of Dem voters were not white. Bodes well for the general. While most of the noise is about the working class white male vote, as it was at this point in 2008, it was not decisive in 2008 even in the general, and has declined proportionately since.
However, if anything about this primary season can be seen as positive, it is the focus by Sanders and awkwardly but apparently with effect by Trump on the working class as victims of income inequality, allegedly from trade policies. Maybe in the rest of the campaigns we'll get substantive on this. You know, accidentally.
After midnight....(EDT time anyway) Bragging rights in Illinois go to Hillary. After midnight (everywhere): Margins in both races in Missouri are so thin that the loser can ask for a recount, but the Missouri secretary of state has declared Hillary and Trump as the winners. For Clinton, it completes a clean sweep.
What's interesting though is that with most of the votes counted in Ohio, how large Hillary's margin is: 57% to 43%. That's about equal to her margin in North Carolina, long conceded as more friendly to her. (Her monster win is Florida, which she took by more than 30 points.) Michigan now looks like a special case.
4 days ago
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