Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump reinforced their leads in Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, with strong performances in primaries and caucuses on Tuesday in five States.
Ms. Clinton now needs only one-third of the delegates in the remaining contests to win the Democratic nomination, while Mr. Trump will need half of the delegates in the states that are yet to vote. Closer to their likely victories, the front runners will come under increasing scrutiny, as their rivals within the respective parties have not called it a day yet.
Senator Marco Rubio, who has been the favourite of the Republican establishment, lost his home state of Florida to Mr. Trump and suspended his campaign. By winning his home State, Ohio, Governor John Kasich has now emerged as the last hope of conventional Republican leaders who find Mr. Trump’s rise unsettling.
The party leadership that has been the target of Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s insults and accusations reviles him, though he is the closest rival to Mr. Trump.
Call for unity
There are only three candidates in the Republican field that opened with 17, nine of them Governors. Mr. Trump has won more than 600 delegates so far, against the requirement of 1,231. He can secure the nomination if he wins half of the remaining delegates.
Mr. Cruz and Mr. Kasich are still a far distance from the halfway mark. As Mr. Trump is never tired of pointing out, those who took him on have fallen sooner — Mr. Rubio being the latest example. Claiming that his rise “makes the Republican Party the biggest political story in the entire world”, Mr. Trump reiterated his call for unity.
In an attempt to rally all anti-Trump forces in the Republican Party behind him, Mr. Kasich has said he would now focus on the front runner’s divisive agenda.
While underlining his commitment to keep the campaign “positive”, Mr. Kasich added on Tuesday, even as the voting was on: “I will be, however, forced going forward to talk about some of the deep concerns I have about the way this campaign has been run by some others – by one other, in particular.”
Sanders continues fight
On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders’s valiant and expensive efforts could not dent Ms. Clinton’s formidable organisational strength, buttressed by her grip over two demographic categories that are the mainstay of the party — blacks and Latinos. Ms. Clinton, who has over 1,500 delegates against the required number of 2,383, dominates the delegate count in the Democratic Party.
Mr. Sanders has won more than 800 delegates so far. There are more than 2,300 more delegates to be allotted in forthcoming primaries and caucuses and Ms. Clinton will be secure even if she wins only a third of them.
Mr. Sanders’s campaign claimed that going forward, this demographic advantage would not be available for Ms. Clinton. He has no intention of dropping out of the race and has ratcheted up his attack on Ms. Clinton for her connections with the Wall Street and big pharma.
“With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar that favours us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement after Tuesday’s results.
Springing back after an upset loss to Mr. Sanders in Michigan last week, Ms. Clinton is also fine-tuning her message by adopting talking points that have contributed to Mr. Sanders’s popularity. “I am really totally committed to bringing back manufacturing,” Ms. Clinton said after Tuesday victories. Her speech also targeted Mr. Trump, with her eyes now firmly set on the November presidential race.
