November preview? Turnout surging in Republican primaries – and sinking for Democrats

No matter the internal strife over Donald Trump’s presidential bid, the intensely competitive Republican primary contest is bringing a booming number of voters to the polls – while Democratic turnout plunges, raising questions about whether these trends will last through November. 
For the Republicans, turnout has been higher than in 2008 across every state to vote so far this year. In Virginia and Texas, turnout was 100 percent higher.
Meanwhile, Democratic turnout was down in every state that has held a primary and caucus except Colorado. In some states -- including Nevada, Tennessee and Texas -- it dropped more than 30 percent. Overall, voter turnout from the Super Tuesday states was 66 percent higher for the Republicans, and 31 percent lower for the Democrats.
Click here for Fox News debate coverage
What gives?
For one, analysts say there’s a sense of excitement on the Republican side that just isn’t there in the comparatively lackluster battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
“Boring old Hillary versus Bernie just didn’t seem to captivate people’s imagination here,” said Tom Whalen, professor of politics at Boston University in Massachusetts.
The 2016 Democratic race also isn’t coming close to fueling the kind of enthusiasm seen in 2008, when Clinton’s epic battle against Barack Obama drove record primary turnout. This time, the Republican contest is the showstopper – and the Trump factor cannot be understated.
In Whalen’s state, 20,000 Democrats left the party and either went independent or switched to the Republican Party to vote in Tuesday’s primary.
Trump won Massachusetts overwhelmingly – and Whalen said the excitement levels on the Democratic side just can’t compare. The question for the Democratic Party is whether the sagging turnout is a temporary phase – and, if Clinton wins the nomination, whether she has what it takes to energize Dems for the big fight this fall.
“On the Democratic side, all of [Clinton’s] experience and credentials are working  against her in this environment, and she is just not inspiring the kind of intense support that that Barack Obama did [in 2008] -- or like Trump is doing,” former Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein said.
Bill Scher, a senior writer for the liberal Campaign for America’s Future, suggests the reason Democratic numbers appear low is because in 2008 Obama was the phenom, and he was locked in a tight race with Clinton that went on all the way to June.
“There isn’t the sense of drama” among the Dems, certainly not the kind that is playing on the GOP side, he said.
For all the debate about whether Sanders would lead a successful party insurgency against Hillary, “the Nevada caucus took a lot of wind out of the Sanders’ juggernaut,” said Scher.
Scher acknowledged that in his home state of Massachusetts, thousands of people chose to vote in the Republican Party and many stayed home, cooling their heels until the general election.
However, “I would be very cautious in assuming what happens in a primary automatically tells you what is going to happen in the general,” he said, pointing to polls that have Clinton beating Trump, albeit by a slim margin, in a head-to-head match-up.
That’s where the Trump energy is going to matter the most, say experts. He is bringing new voters to the Republican contests and across the demographics, particularly among blue-collar, lower-income voters who have expressed an anger with the government and seeking a political outsider for the White House.
“He’s the reason why there’s a boost at the polls,” said Whalen.
“That makes him a pretty formidable figure. He’s going to be a big threat [in the general].”
But as GOPAC Chairman Dave Avella points out, four in 10 voters in Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia said they would be dissatisfied if Trump were the GOP nominee, which suggests there was something else driving people to the polls last Tuesday.
“The record turnout in the Republican primary speaks to the intensity the Republicans have to get past Obama’s tenure as well as the number of voters rallying to the candidates’ messages,” he told FoxNews.com.
“A lot of that would certainly be Mr. Trump’s message bringing people into the Republican primary voting process, but so are the messages of Senators Cruz and Rubio, and Governor Kasich. Maybe not to the same level, but they are.”
There are other, less glamorous reasons for the spike in turnout: typically primary and caucus turnout is higher for the party that is out of the White House. In 2008, Democrats not only had Barack Obama, but it was the year they were vying to take back the presidency for the first time since 2000.
Further, the 103 percent increase in GOP turnout in Texas and 50 percent increase in Vermont may be skewed -- neither state participated in Super Tuesday in 2008 and in fact their contests were scheduled much later, when it was clear John McCain would be the nominee.
Come the general election, Whalen expects “record turnout.”
Whether that will be on either side or from both parties will remain to be seen, said Gerstein. “It will depend on how many people who are cynical and turned off by Washington, versus people who will come out against Trump,” he said. “Is the anti-establishment vote going to be stronger than the anti-Trump vote? This is going to be the real test of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Can they turn that antipathy, even disgust into votes for her?”

Trump deflects Fox questions, rivals fail to capitalize in Detroit

Donald Trump began the Republican debate here in Detroit by deflecting two hardball questions and one attack.
Trump the insult machine was absent. In his place was a more seasoned politician taking a somewhat higher road.
Trump briefly responded to a litany of Mitt Romney attacks, quoted by Chris Wallace—bullying, greed, misogyny—by quickly calling him a failed candidate and pivoting to trade. He again disavowed David Duke and the KKK without challenging the question.
And when Marco Rubio reprised his “small hands” jibe at Trump, The Donald retracted his “lightweight” label for the senator, defended his hands and became the first presidential candidate in history to refer to the size of his package. (Though moments later, when Marco Rubio hit him for inherited money and making clothing abroad, Trump said that “this little guy has lied so much about my record” and then kept calling him “Little Marco.”)
Trump’s goal coming into the Fox News debate, as the overwhelming front-runner, had to be to emerge with only minor scratches that would not undermine that status. And since he skipped the last Fox debate in Iowa, many media outlets, from Drudge to the New York Times, billed it as a rematch between Trump and Megyn Kelly. (She said hi, he said nice to see you, and they moved on to a question about that off-the-record New York Times discussion of immigration.)
Ted Cruz hit Trump as not being a real conservative and tried to tie him to government “corruption” because of his past support of Democrats. John Kasich said “you all wrote me off.” And the overall tone was less bitingly personal—and the combat less raucous—than in the out-of-control CNN debate. Perhaps each candidate realized he had gone too far. Plus, the Fox moderators controlled the agenda and the pacing through carefully pointed questions, such as when Wallace pressed Trump on his budget math using graphics. He has learned to pivot from uncomfortable questions back to his packaged points.
Trump’s game plan was to stay on the high road but Rubio got under his skin early and he was back to “Little Marco.” He didn’t have great answers on the budget math but largely emerged unscathed, especially on the Romney and KKK questions.
Cruz’s effort to tie Trump to government “corruption” by citing his past support of Democrats fell flat and broke no new ground. He was solid and confident as usual, but not as strong a presence here as in most of the previous debates. He made no mistakes but kept getting bogged down in poll questions, which enabled Trump to cite his superior numbers.
Rubio was again the most aggressive on the stage, but his slams against Trump seemed recycled. He jumped in when Kelly asked about Trump’s off-the-record discussion of immigration with the New York Times, with the senator asking the billionaire to authorize release of the tape. Trump said a little “give and take” on issues was fine, and said his respect for the pledge of “off the record” prevented him from making the editorial board session public.
Rubio never really scored a direct punch or created a moment as he did in the last debate.
Kasich tried to avoid the squabbles, drawing cheers when he spoke of making government work, but as a result he often seemed like an afterthought.
The high point of the debate was Trump’s handling of a video montage presented by Kelly. The clips showed the front-runner changing his position on Afghanistan, Syrian refugees and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Trump calmly conceded that he had changed his positions, based, he said, on new information.
Kelly quickly got to the nub of the matter: Does Trump have a core?
Trump, unruffled, said that he does but that a politician has to show a certain degree of flexibility.
There was a lengthy back and forth about allegations involving Trump University, which kept him on the defensive but the details about affidavits and refunds were hard for the audience to follow.
Overall, it was a spirited and substantive debate. But I expected more blood on the floor.
Bottom line: Nothing that happened here in the Fox Theater altered the situation in which the Republican establishment is still desperately trying to derail the Trump express.
Click for more Media Buzz.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. 

Fox News First: GOP breaks down in Motor City

DETROIT –  Well, that happened.
In a presidential cycle of history-making firsts, we have now had the first candidate ever to brag about the size of his, ahem, presidential timber on a debate stage.
“I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee you,” Donald Trump said to dispel any thought that all this talk about his small hands meant that “something else” was small as well.
Not that it matters particularly in a presidential cycle that has seen more insults, more putdowns, more small-mindedness, and more trolling than every previous primary season combined.
The saying favored by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was, “When you’re going through hell, keep going.” But for Republican voters, it just keeps going and going and going …
The reasonable question for the GOP now is what chances remain to defeat Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee. As we know, party unity is the perhaps most important asset either side can take into a general election, and Republicans are way past the point of disunity.
It will, of course, matter how the nominating process ends. The two paths forward for the Republicans involve either Trump becoming inevitable eleven days from now with knockout wins in Florida and Ohio or, alternately, five rugged months of state-by-state fighting followed by a contested convention.
As for the first possibility of the quick Trump victory, Thursday’s debate showed important signs of a shift. None of the other candidates on stage took even passing shots at one another. Every attack was aimed at Trump.
You can call it the start of the Romney Plan. Earlier in the day, the 2012 Republican nominee laid out an indictment of Trump as a candidate who could not win a general election, and who, if he did, would still be an unacceptable commander-in-chief.
But Mitt Romney also laid out a strategy for his party. Romney said that as a voter he would choose whichever candidate in his state had the best chance of defeating Trump.
That means Marco Rubio in his native Florida, John Kasich in Ohio, where he serves as governor, and perhaps Ted Cruz in Michigan where evangelical voters are a powerful force in the western part of the state. And it also means the candidates can’t attack each other on stage or in their priority states.
The Romney Plan certainly seemed to be in effect here. And since earlier in the day, John Kasich associated himself with Romney’s thorough thrashing of Trump, there’s reason to think that he might tacitly be on board.
But will all that matter?
Next week’s contest here in Michigan as well as Idaho and Mississippi will start to tell the tale.
For Republican voters, however, who watched mouths agape at locker room talk from their frontrunner, and a series of brutal attacks on his record and character from his opponents, despair is setting in.
Much of the fight on the Republican side is centered on who can beat Clinton. The growing fear among GOP voters is that the answer might be: “None of them.”
[GOP delegate count: Trump 319; Cruz 226; Rubio 110; Kasich 25; Carson 8 (1,237 needed to win)]

Rivals spar with Trump on trust at GOP debate – but all vow to support nominee

Donald Trump’s rivals teamed up at Thursday’s Fox News Republican presidential debate in a concerted effort to cast him as a political salesman willing to say anything and take any position to win the nomination – but in the end, pledged to support the GOP nominee, even if it's Trump. 
Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich all pledged to support the eventual nominee. And Trump, who has occasionally threatened to mount an independent bid, also vowed, “Yes, I will” support the nominee.
The moment of unity in Detroit was a break from the otherwise tense and personal debate. At other times, the Republican front-runner repeatedly was challenged, by the moderators and his rival candidates, on his alleged inconsistencies.
Trump defended his statements, one after another – for instance, saying “I changed my tune” from welcoming Middle East refugees to suggesting the U.S. can’t take them, after learning new information.
“I have a very strong core," he said, while adding: “I have never seen a successful person who wasn’t flexible.”
But his rivals argued this “flexibility” raises questions about whether Trump really would deliver on his promises.
“There’s a difference between flexibility and telling people whatever you think you need to say to get them to do what you want them to do,” Rubio charged, claiming once again that Trump is “trying to con people.”
Ohio Gov.  Kasich, without naming Trump directly, suggested voters are tired of politicians telling them “what they want to hear” and not delivering.
At other times, Trump was kept busy swatting down attacks on his character, his readiness to be president and his business record.
“He has spent a career convincing Americans he’s something that he’s not in exchange for their money," Rubio said of the front-runner.
“This little guy has lied so much about my record,” Trump answered. “... You haven’t employed in your life one person. I’ve employed tens of thousands of people.”
The sustained attempt by the three other candidates to challenge Trump’s authenticity comes as they scramble to disrupt his march to the nomination – following the Super Tuesday contests where Trump padded his sizeable delegate lead.
Once again, the debate saw Cruz and Rubio hitting Trump from both sides – including pressuring him to release a reportedly secret tape of him speaking bluntly about his immigration policies to the New York Times editorial board.
Trump said he’s not going to release the tape. He admitted he’s “changing” and “softening” his position on certain visas for highly skilled workers, but said he’s also “not very flexible” on his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Cruz called the Times tape issue “troubling” and questioned whether he told the editorial board he doesn’t believe what he says on immigration.
“You can resolve this issue very quickly by simply releasing the New York Times tape,” he said, questioning whether he’s “lying” to the public.
“You’re the liar,” Trump said. “I’ve given my answer, lyin’ Ted.”
Trump also tangled with Cruz after accusing Cruz of being the primary supporter of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
Cruz rejected the claim, and when Trump tried to interrupt, said, “Breathe, breathe, breathe.”
Rubio quipped, “When they’re done with the yoga” -- and when brushed off by Cruz, added: “Well, [Trump is] very flexible, so you never know.”
Trump also moved to deflect criticism about his former Trump University, which is the subject of several court cases. He called them a “minor civil case” he could settle.
This led to another tense exchange with Cruz, who said, “Donald, learn not to interrupt … count to 10.”
Kasich, meanwhile, defended his campaign, claiming he’ll turn it around soon – and would earn “crossover votes” in a general election.
Cruz also confronted Trump over his past financial contributions to Hillary Clinton’s campaigns – challenging his decision to send four checks for her 2008 presidential bid.
“Why did you write checks to Hillary Clinton to be president in 2008?” Cruz asked. “It wasn’t for business.”
Trump countered, though, that “it was for business.”
“We’re doing many, many deals outside of the United States,” Trump said, justifying his donations to Clinton’s 2008 campaign.
But he said he also supported Ronald Reagan and other Republicans and maintained that the “last person” Clinton wants to face in November is him.
Trump faced off Thursday against a narrowing field of Republican rivals, as his battle with the GOP ‘establishment’ hit new levels of intensity. Just hours earlier, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney ended any semblance of sitting this one out and delivered a scathing speech against Trump’s candidacy. The address, in which Romney called Trump a “phony” who would sink the country into recession, underscored how divided the party truly is over Trump’s rise.
Trump, at the top of the debate, hit back at Romney,, calling him an “embarrassment” and asserting he’s just trying to get “back in the game.”
“He was a failed candidate. He should have beaten President Obama very easily,” Trump said. “I guess he wants to be relevant.”
Rubio, meanwhile, defended his shift to leveling personal attacks at Trump – which he started doing at the most recent debate.
“Donald Trump has basically mocked everybody with personal attacks,” he said. “If there’s anyone who’s ever deserved to be attacked that way, it’s Donald Trump.”
Rubio, though, said he’s ready to get back to the issues.
Trump then made an off-color joke when responding Rubio’s jab at his supposedly small hands.
“He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. .. If they’re small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there’s no problem.”
Despite resistance to Trump from senior GOP figures, Super Tuesday showed primary voters once again breaking in huge numbers for Trump’s campaign – delivering him seven state victories out of 11 and building his already-substantial delegate lead over his rivals.
The field thinned again after Super Tuesday, with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson saying he sees no path to the nomination and – while stopping short of suspending his campaign – sitting out Thursday’s debate in Detroit.
Each of the remaining candidates is continuing to campaign, undeterred by Trump’s dominance on Super Tuesday and his delegate lead.
Cruz won three states, including his home state of Texas, on Tuesday. Rubio won his first, in Minnesota. Kasich has not won any, but is banking on his home state’s primary on March 15.
Cruz has openly applied pressure on the two other candidates to consider dropping out, arguing that he is the only candidate who can take on Trump in the remaining primary contests.
Rubio, though, has enjoyed substantial support from fellow GOP lawmakers and is banking on a comeback in his home state on March 15 as well.

College President Cartoon

Oberlin College president appears to defend controversial professor in letter

Birds of a feather flock together.

The head of a prestigious Ohio school appeared to have defended a professor whose Facebook posts blaming Israel and Jews for everything from 9/11 to the creation of ISIS created an uproar earlier this week.
Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov said in a letter to the college community Wednesday that professor Joy Karega’s posts on social media affected him on a personal level and also challenged his professional beliefs, according to The Chronicle-Telegram.
“I am a practicing Jew, grandson of an Orthodox rabbi. Members of our family were murdered in the Holocaust,” Krislov wrote. “As someone who has studied history, I cannot comprehend how any person could or would question its existence, its horrors and the evil which caused it. I feel the same way about anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Regardless of the reason for spreading these materials, they cause pain for many people — members of our community and beyond.”
He didn’t mention Karega’s name in the letter, but said backing the right to freedom of speech was parallel to the college’s mission.
“Cultivating academic freedom can be difficult and at times painful for any college community. The principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech are not just principles to which we turn to face these challenges, but also the very practices that ensure we can develop meaningful responses to prejudice.
“This freedom enables Oberlin’s faculty and students to think deeply about and to engage in frank, open discussion of ideas that some may find deeply offensive. Those discussions — in classrooms, residence halls, libraries, and across our campus and town — take place every day here. They are a vital part of the important work of liberal arts education at Oberlin and in our country,” he added.
Karega is an assistant professor of “rhetoric and composition” at Oberlin College. She claimed on social media that the Jewish state secretly planned the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and that Mossad, Israel’s national security agency, former Islamic State.
Critics argued that Karega needed to be fired immediately.
“This is the worst kind of anti-Semitic rhetoric,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin—Israel Law Center, an Israeli-based civil rights organization. "It is not acceptable for the dean to hide behind academic freedom and claim this is freedom of speech.

Oberlin College | StartClass

“She (Karega) is not a tenured professor," she added. "She needs to be thrown off campus immediately.”
Karega received her Ph.D. from the University of Louisville in 2014. She said in a statement on her Facebook page, that she will use the push back she’s received for material for her new book. She also criticized the “anti-Semitism call-out culture.”
“… I can generate articles for days on what I can describe as "antisemitism call-out culture" and some of its accompanying practices. I don't have to tell some of you that these recent activities in my own professional life have handed me a LARGE body of data (emails, voicemail messages, tweets, Facebook inbox messages, etc.) that will shed light on and provide insight into how and to what extent anti-Blackness rhetorics show up in “anti-Semitic call-out culture and practices,” she wrote.

Trump unveils seven-point healthcare reform plan

Nearly one week after Sen. Marco Rubio skewered businessman Donald Trump on his healthcare reform plan, the Republican frontrunner Wednesday released his seven-point plan to repeal Obamacare and implement his own policy.
Trump posted the plan on his website. It slammed the Affordable Health Care Act, saying it has “tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and few choices.”
He assured voters that his policy "will broaden healthcare, make healthcare more affordable and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans.”
Trump offers several reforms in his healthcare plan and urges Congress to act. He also vows to restore Americans’ faith in the government and economic liberty to the people.
The first thing Trump touches on in his outline is to eliminate the individual mandate. Trump says no one should be required to buy health insurance if they don’t want to.
As he touched on in the last GOP debate while he was arguing with Rubio, Trump wants to modify a law that inhibits the sale of health insurance across state lines. By doing that, he says, will allow full competition in the market and “consumer satisfaction will go up.”
The third bullet point calls for individuals to deduct insurance premium payments from their tax returns under the current tax system.
“As we allow the free market to provide insurance coverage opportunities to companies and individuals, we must also make sure that no one slips through the cracks simply because they cannot afford insurance. We must review basic options for Medicaid and work with states to ensure that those who want healthcare coverage can have it,” Trump added.
His fourth bullet point focuses on young individuals who can afford high-deductible insurance plans. He introduces Health Savings Accounts or HSAs.
“These funds can be used by any member of a family without penalty. The flexibility and security provided by HSAs will be of great benefit to all who participate.”
Trump wants “price transparency from all healthcare providers.” He says individuals should be able to shop around for the best prices for any sort of procedures, exams or checkups.
The sixth bullet point says state governments can manage the administration of Medicaid to residents without the “fear of federal overhead.” Under Trump’s plan states will receive incentives to eliminate fraud and waste.
In the final bullet, Trump calls on Congress to step away from special interests and “do what is right for America.” He wants to remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug companies that offer safe and affordable products.
Further, Trump also touches on illegal immigration and said that offering healthcare to illegal immigrants costs the U.S. $11 billion per year. He said if the immigration laws were enforced, “we could relive healthcare cost pressures on state and local governments.”
Reforming Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program and mental health programs are also on Trump’s to-do list as president.

Report: Clinton campaign 'reminded' of election law after Bill strolls into polls

The Clinton campaign was “reminded” of Massachusetts election laws Tuesday after the former president wandered into a Boston school and began shaking hands with voters and polling workers.
According to The Boston Globe, Bill Clinton strolled into the Holy Name Parish School in West Roxbury alongside Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. But state law restricts electioneering (soliciting for or against any person, party or ballot question) within 150 feet of a polling place.
A video shows Clinton shaking hands inside the school gym where the voting was taking place, and reports say he was glad-handing everyone -- even kissing an old woman on the head - and stopped at a bake sale near the entrance and bought a cup of coffee. At one point, according to MassLive.com, he was asked by a woman inside to pose for a picture.
“As long as we’re not violating any election laws,” he said. The report said he spent 45 minutes at the West Roxbury location. It was one of several stops he made in Massachusetts, where his wife was locked in a Super Tuesday primary battle with opponent Bernie Sanders. Massachusetts is one state where the Vermont senator has given the former first lady a fight, according to the polls.
MassLive.com said Bill Clinton did not take press questions, nor did he appear to mention the election. At one point a woman told the former president that she had voted for Republican Ted Cruz, but that her 98-year-old mother voted for Hillary Clinton. He then took a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote the mother a note.
While the Boston Globe confirmed with the Secretary of State’s office that the campaign had been “reminded” of the 150-foot rule, it was not clear when or where the reminder took place.
When asked by by Fox News whether the ex-president was violating election rules, a spokesman for Secretary of State Brian McNiff said simply, “I don't know. He was just in there shaking hands and there's no law against that."
He did mention that there were problems with traffic being obstructed and "quite a crowd in New Bedford" when Clinton stopped there earlier, but it did not shut down the polls.

DOJ reportedly grants immunity to former State Dept staffer in Clinton email probe

The Justice Department has reportedly granted immunity to a former State Department staffer who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official told The Washington Post on Wednesday that the FBI secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the private server at her New York home in 2009.
Current and former agents told the newspaper that agents will likely want to interview Clinton and her senior aides about the decision to use a private server, and whether any of the participants knew they were sending classified information in emails as part of the ongoing investigation.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called the latest developments on the Clinton investigation "ominous" in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly on "The Kelly File," and that it meant the process was moving to "a whole other level." "That suggests the legal jeopardy is getting greater and greater," he said Wednesday.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday in an interview with Fox News that the Justice Department has no deadline for concluding the Clinton email investigation and that it’s being handled “like any other review,” even with the presidential election just months away.
Lynch said on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the investigation is being handled by the agency’s “career independent lawyers” and that they will “review the facts and the evidence and make a determination in due course.”
Lynch, nominated by President Obama to the attorney general post in 2014, also said the agency would look “efficiently, fairly, thoroughly, without any kind of artificial deadline” into whether Clinton broke any laws as secretary of state by using a private email server for official communications.
Lynch was steadfast in declining to discuss specifics about the Clinton case -- including whether Clinton has been interviewed, if a grand jury had been convened, which departments within the agency are involved and whether she would ultimately decide whether the case will go forward.
“We handle it in the same way, and that's what I'd like to convey to the American people,” she said. “We owe it to the citizens and we owe it to anybody who may be involved in the matter.”
She also declined to comment on Clinton's then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills maintaining her top secret security clearance despite sending information that's now being classified to the Clinton Foundation.

"That suggests the legal jeopardy is getting greater and greater," he said Wednesday.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday in an interview with Fox News that the Justice Department has no deadline for concluding the Clinton email investigation and that it’s being handled “like any other review,” even with the presidential election just months away.
Lynch said on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the investigation is being handled by the agency’s “career independent lawyers” and that they will “review the facts and the evidence and make a determination in due course.”
Lynch, nominated by President Obama to the attorney general post in 2014, also said the agency would look “efficiently, fairly, thoroughly, without any kind of artificial deadline” into whether Clinton broke any laws as secretary of state by using a private email server for official communications.
Lynch was steadfast in declining to discuss specifics about the Clinton case -- including whether Clinton has been interviewed, if a grand jury had been convened, which departments within the agency are involved and whether she would ultimately decide whether the case will go forward.
“We handle it in the same way, and that's what I'd like to convey to the American people,” she said. “We owe it to the citizens and we owe it to anybody who may be involved in the matter.”
She also declined to comment on Clinton's then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills maintaining her top secret security clearance despite sending information that's now being classified to the Clinton Foundation.

Texas Voter Cartoon

Trump is now unstoppable. It's game over for Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and Carson

Game over! This was a rout, America. Winning seven states and the vast majority of delegates is a landslide. Donald Trump and the millions of his supporters have changed American politics and the Republican Party for the foreseeable future.
The nomination is within his grasp and if he does what he said he would do Tuesday night: "[I will] be a unifier!" he may be a very viable candidate against Hillary Clinton in the fall.
After his victories Tuesday night in multiple states and his second place finish in others , Trump is in an unstoppable position. Whether the junior senators from Texas and Florida choose to pursue him, it doesn’t matter, the end is near.
Trump, who is an unconventional candidate, to say the least, has tapped into the anger and frustration across America and has mobilized voters to turn out in record numbers.
Love him or hate him, be inspired by him or be appalled by him, Trump has totally dominated a political cycle like no other politician I’ve seen in decades.
I admit I was a total skeptic, like many others.
At first, I didn’t think he would run.
Then I thought there was no way he could beat the all-star cast of elected officials running against him.
Then I underestimated his lack of substance and trite answers in the debates.
Then I underestimated his lack of a real campaign.
Then I was convinced the political establishment was going to spend millions and take him out. And like the Energizer bunny he just keeps going and winning!
Trump is getting stronger by the day and his supporters are locked in and not going away. And no one has mastered the media like this since Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders.
What's ahead is a Republican Party that either becomes part of his movement or splinters into many pieces. No matter what Trump does or says, the nomination is his for the taking.
Winning politics is a game of addition. Trump needs to be more careful in his words and in his thoughts. He needs to be a more gracious winner.
He has convinced many voters that he is a leader and a change agent. Now he needs to add substance and surround himself with some advisers who can add to that substance.
Thursday night’s GOP debate should be taken to a higher plane. All sides need to back away from the name calling and argue over the differences in policies.
All the candidates need to tell us how they will make the United States a better place and how they will beat Hillary and the Democrats this fall and why they should.
In the very near future, the Republican leadership of the Congress and the nation’s Republican governors need to sit down and do a "Trump negotiation" session.
Why? Because they need to see if they can find common ground to run on.
Trump is the ultimate salesman and he needs to sell these guys on his candidacy and convince them that together they can make it work.
If not, a holy war lies ahead that will destroy the Republican Party as we know it. And worse, Hillary Clinton may end up becoming president. -- Just as I underestimated Donald Trump, Republicans will be foolish if we underestimate Hillary Clinton.
My last advice is this: Mr. Trump, if you’re going to reward Governor Christie for his endorsement by letting him introduce you, get him off the stage once he's done.
No one seemed more unhappy than Christie watching you speak in Florida Tuesday night and frowning throughout your press conference.
A gracious loser he's not!

After disappointing Super Tuesday, Kasich turns focus to Midwestern states

Ohio Gov. John Kasich maintained that the Republican presidential race was moving to his "home court" after a series of largely disappointing results in the Super Tuesday contests. 
Kasich had followed up a second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary by placing fifth in the South Carolina primary and the Nevada caucuses. On Tuesday, runner-up finishes in Vermont and Massachusetts were canceled out by fourth-place finishes in Texas and Virginia, as well as fifth-place finishes in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
In a speech to supporters in Mississippi, Kasich used a college basketball analogy to discuss his plan for the upcoming races.
"We're almost to March Madness," Kasich said, "and you know what they all struggle for, home court advantage.
"We're heading north right on to my home court with Michigan, and then, I’ll tell you now, we will beat Donald Trump in the state of Ohio."
Michigan holds its primary March 8, with Ohio voting March 15. A total of 125 delegates are at stake in the two Rust Belt states. However, at least one recent poll has shown Kasich trailing Trump among Republican voters in the Buckeye State, while most Michigan polls show Trump in the lead by double digits.
Even if Kasich does pull off the double victory, it's unclear how he would capture enough delegates to catch Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, all of whom recorded victories on Tuesday.
Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson beat out Kasich for fourth place in a number of Southern states, but that was about the only good news for his beleaguered campaign.
Addressing supporters in Baltimore Tuesday, Carson vowed to keep fighting, telling supporters that the political system was "rotten to the core" and said Republicans and Democrats alike had "weaved such a complex web."
"I am not ready to quit trying to untangle it yet."

Clinton’s Super Tuesday leaves Sanders' path forward in doubt

Hillary Clinton can’t lock up the Democratic nomination just yet – but she seemed to be well on her way Tuesday, building a large delegate lead against her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Fox News projected Sanders winning primaries in Oklahoma and his home state of Vermont, as well as caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota.
However, Clinton was projected to win primaries in the delegate-rich states of Georgia, Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, Massachusetts and Tennessee. Many of those victories came by convincing margins, with results showing Clinton beating Sanders by 60 percentage points in Alabama, 40 percentage points in Arkansas, 43 percentage points in Georgia and 33 percentage points in Tennessee.
Tuesday's results considerably narrowed Sanders' path to the Democratic nomination. Mathematically, he can still win his party’s nod, but it will be an uphill climb.
Sanders told supporters in Vermont that he was up for the challenge and vowed to keep fighting until the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July.
“This campaign is not just about electing a president. It is about transforming America,” Sanders said Tuesday night at a rally in Essex Junction, Vt. “It is about making our great country a nation it has the potential to be.”
Sanders added that the election is about “dealing with some unpleasant truths” and “having the guts to confront those truths.”
In a verbal jab at Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Clinton told a cheering crowd of supporters that the goal was not to “make American great again” but to “make America whole again.”
She made her victory speech in Florida, ahead of the key March 15 primary there.
Democrats in 11 states weighed in on whom they want on the November ballot. Clinton aimed for a clean sweep of six states, while Sanders set his sights on five states, including two with caucuses.
Tuesday was the busiest day on the primary calendar so far. For Democrats, 859 delegates will be up for grabs – more than a third of the 2,383 needed to clinch the nomination.
Sanders started the day by casting a ballot for himself in Vermont and said he felt “great” about his prospects.
“After a lot of deliberation, I know that Bernie Sanders here in Vermont got at least one vote,” Sanders joked to reporters with his wife Jane by his side. “I was working on my wife. So I probably got two. So we are feeling pretty good.”
Clinton spent her morning talking to local residents at a Minneapolis coffee shop and local market. She was expected to spend the evening in Miami.
Clinton’s victory over Sanders in the southern states hinged on turning out the states’ large black population. About 4 in 10 voters in Georgia's Democratic primary were black, and about 8 in 10 of them favored Clinton. That mirrors her strong showing among black voters in South Carolina over the weekend.

Trump, Clinton rack up Super Tuesday wins; Cruz keeps foothold

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton each scored a string of impressive primary victories Tuesday night that sent an emphatic message to voters and their respective political rivals that the primary season might be all but over, and the race for the White House is on -- though Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, with victories in delegate-rich Texas and in Oklahoma and Alaska, is far from conceding anything.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, too, found reason to press on, with Super Tuesday wins in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Colorado and his home state of Vermont. Even Marco Rubio, after a string of second- and third-place finishes, found his first win in Minnesota.
But with Clinton amassing a huge delegate lead, the more competitive race is on the Republican side – where Cruz clearly edged Rubio in the Super Tuesday battle for second and quickly positioned himself as the better candidate to take on Trump.
“Tonight was another decision point, and the voters have spoken,” Cruz said in Texas, urging voters to unite behind him so he could take on Trump “head to head.”
Even with the senators' victories, Trump emerged from Tuesday’s contests closer than ever to the nomination, and acting more and more like a general election candidate eager to take on Democratic front-runner Clinton.
“Once we get all of this finished, I’m going to go after one person, and that’s Hillary Clinton,” he said, at an unusual primary night press conference in Florida. “I think that’s frankly going to be an easy race.”
Speaking in Florida after notching several wins, Clinton also seemed to look beyond Sanders – taking implicit shots at Trump’s “make America great again” campaign slogan.
“America never stopped being great,” Clinton said. “We have to make America whole.”
She also mocked his proposal for a southern border wall, saying, “Instead of building walls, we’re going to break down barriers.”
Trump answered right back, quipping: "Make America great again is going to be much better than making America whole again."
With results still coming in, Trump is projected to win in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. Clinton is projected to win Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Across 11 states, 595 Republican delegates were up for grabs Tuesday – nearly half the number needed to clinch the nomination. And on the Democratic side, Clinton and Vermont Sen. Sanders were battling for 865 delegates in 11 states – roughly a third of the number needed to clinch the nomination.
No matter how the delegate math shakes out, the primary races are not over – yet.
While the Super Tuesday contests marked the biggest day of primary season voting to date, the states were mostly allocating delegates proportionally, meaning even the runner-ups could add to their totals.
Rubio stressed that point, as he began to focus on the March 15 contest in his home state.
“We never said Super Tuesday was going to be our night,” he told Fox News.
Cruz clearly had the better night.
Texas was the biggest prize on the Super Tuesday map, offering 222 Democratic delegates and 155 Republican delegates. A win for Cruz in his home state was considered critical, and he was able to thwart any potential late-hour surge by Trump there.
While Cruz put subtle pressure on Rubio to step aside, Trump openly mocked the Florida senator after earlier calling on him to drop out – a call Rubio rebuffed. Trump again called him a "lightweight" while threatening to take on the Florida senator in his home state in two weeks.
Clinton entered Super Tuesday with a head of steam following her landslide win over Sanders in South Carolina this past Saturday.
Sanders, though, savored his home-state win all the same, rallying cheering supporters in Vermont Tuesday evening.
"It is good to be home," he said, before shifting to his stump speech slams against a "corrupt campaign finance system."
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who expressed low expectations for Super Tuesday, remains in the GOP race in hopes of making it to the Ohio contest in two weeks, though his presence continues to frustrate efforts by Rubio and Cruz to consolidate support.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, meanwhile, has defended his continued presence in the race.
“People have asked for somebody who is not a politician, who was a member of we the people, who has an outstanding life of achievement and who thinks the way they do,” he told Fox News.

Trump's Sprinkler Head Cartoon

Senior Clinton aide maintained top secret clearance amid email probe, letters show

EXCLUSIVE: A senior Hillary Clinton aide has maintained her top secret security clearance despite sending information now deemed classified to the Clinton Foundation and to then-Secretary of State Clinton's private unsecured email account, according to congressional letters obtained by Fox News. 
Current and former intelligence officials say it is standard practice to suspend a clearance pending the outcome of an investigation. Yet in the case of Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff at the State Department, two letters indicate this practice is not being followed -- even as the Clinton email system remains the subject of an FBI investigation.
In an Oct. 30, 2015, letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa -- who has been aggressively investigating the Clinton email case -- Mills' lawyer Beth A. Wilkinson confirmed that her client “has an active Top Secret clearance." The letter said previous reporting from the State Department that the clearance was no longer active was wrong and due to "an administrative error."
A second letter dated Feb. 18, 2016, from the State Department's assistant secretary for legislative affairs, Julia Frifield, provided additional details to Grassley about the "administrative error." It, too, confirmed Mills maintained the top secret clearance.
The letters come amid multiple congressional investigations, as well as an FBI probe focused on the possible gross mishandling of classified information and Clinton's use of an unsecured personal account exclusively for government business. The State Department is conducting its own administrative review.
Under normal circumstances, Mills would have had her clearance terminated when she left the department. But in January 2014, according to the State Department letter, Clinton designated Mills “to assist in her research.” Mills was the one who reviewed Clinton’s emails before select documents were handed over to the State Department, and others were deleted.
Dan Maguire, a former strategic planner with Africom who has 46 years combined service, told Fox News his current and former colleagues are deeply concerned a double standard is at play.
"Had this happened to someone serving in the government, their clearance would have already been pulled, and certainly they would be under investigation. And depending on the level of disclosure, it's entirely possible they would be under pretrial confinement for that matter," Maguire explained. "There is a feeling the administration may want to sweep this under the rug.”
On Monday, the State Department was scheduled to release the final batch of Clinton emails as part of a federal court-mandated timetable.
So far, more than 1,800 have been deemed to contain classified information, and another 22 “top secret” emails have been considered too damaging to national security to release even with heavy redactions.
As Clinton's chief of staff, Mills was a gatekeeper and routinely forwarded emails to Clinton's personal account. As one example, a Jan. 23, ‎2011 email forwarded from Mills to Clinton, called "Update on DR meeting," contained classified information, as well as foreign government information which is "born classified."
The 2011 email can be declassified 15 years after it was sent -- indicating it contained classified information when it was sent.
Fox News was first to report that sworn declarations from the CIA notified the intelligence community inspector general and Congress there were "several dozen emails" containing classified information up to the most closely guarded government programs known as “Special Access Programs.”
Clinton has maintained all along that she did not knowingly transmit information considered classified at the time.
The U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual lays out the penalties for taking classified information out of secure government channels – such as an unsecured email system. While the incidents are handled on a "case by case" basis, the manual suggests the suspension of a clearance is routine while "derogatory information" is reviewed.
The manual says the director of the Diplomatic Security Service, "based on a recommendation from the Senior Coordinator for Security Infrastructure (DS/SI), will determine whether, considering all facts available upon receipt of the initial information, it is in the interests of the national security to suspend the employee’s access to classified information on an interim basis. A suspension is an independent administrative procedure that does not represent a final determination …”
Fox News has asked the State Department to explain why Mills maintains her clearance while multiple federal and congressional investigations are ongoing. Fox News also asked whether the department was instructed by the FBI or another entity to keep the clearance in place. Fox News has not yet received a response.

Ambassador killed in Benghazi attack considered leaving Libya in April 2011, emails reveal

Seventeen months before he was killed in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Ambassador Chris Stevens was seriously considering leaving the country as its civil war widened. 
The ambassador's concerns are reflected in emails sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's inner circle. The emails were released by the State Department Monday as part of the 14th and final batch of messages from Clinton's private server.
One email in particular, dated April 10, 2011, relays Stevens' safety concerns to the State Department. It was sent by a State Department official named Timmy Davis to several key Clinton aides, including Jake Sullivan, now the top foreign policy adviser on Clinton's presidential campaign, and Huma Abedin.
The message, with the subject line "Stevens update" reads, in part, "The situation in Ajdabiyah [a town approximately 90 miles southeast of Benghazi] has worsened to the point where Stevens is considering departure from Benghazi. The envoy's delegation is currently doing a phased checkout (paying the hotel bills, moving some comms to the boat, etc) ... He will wait 2-3 more hours, then revisit the decision on departure."
The message from Davis indicates there is heavy sniper fire and shelling in Ajdabiyah. According to the message, Stevens is apparently trying to see if “this is an irreversible situation. Departure would send a significant political signal” that the U.S. had lost confidence in Libya's Transitional National Council, which oversaw the rebel forces fighting to overthrow dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Davis' message was forwarded to Clinton by Abedin. The secretary of state's response is not known.
The latest email release also indicates that State Department official Wendy Sherman sent at least one classified email to Clinton in August 2012. The email, which Sherman sent with the attached message, "I don't usually forward emails such as below", dealt with Egyptian troop movements.
Sherman, who left the State Department this past October, led the U.S. delegation at last summer's nuclear talks with Iran. Fox News previously reported that Sherman appears in a 2013 State Department video saying that in the interest of speed, Clinton and her aides shared information that "would never be on an unclassified system" normally.
Another revelation in the latest email dump is that Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urged Clinton to approve the showing of Usama bin Laden's death photos to members of Congress after the Al Qaeda leader was killed by Navy SEALs in May 2011.
In an email to Clinton, Blumenthal argued that the photos would provide a boost to President Obama's political capital ahead of that summer's lengthy debt ceiling fight with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
"Having the members file through [a special secure room] will provide testimony to the President's feat," Blumenthal wrote in the May 5, 2011 message. "They will be not only be acknowledging but also enhancing his power. They will in effect become liegemen bowing before him, but not in any way they will resent or will protest. They will serve as witnesses to the magnitude of what he has done."
Members of Senate and House committees who deal with intelligence and military matters were later invited to view the photos, but they have not been made public.
State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that one additional email between Clinton and Obama was withheld from the final batch of messages, bringing the total number of such messages to 19.
Kirby also said that 52,000 pages of emails, not 55,000 as previously stated, have been released to the public from Clinton's private server, which was kept in her bathroom in her Chappaqua, N.Y. home. Kirby said 55,000 was a "colloquial" term used previously by the State Department and the real number of pages is between 52 or 53,000.

Circus smackdown: A campaign about small hands, big ears and endless insults

Marco Rubio says he “had hoped this would be a campaign only about ideas.”
But now, as the voting begins on Super Tuesday, it’s about sweating and shortness, small hands and big ears, spray tans and bad makeup and, well, pants-wetting.
Two weeks ago, Rubio told CBN’s David Brody: “I don’t do the personal stuff. I don’t do the personal attacks primarily because it’s not who I am, because I think it’s beneath the office that I’m seeking but also because I don’t want to embarrass my kids.”
But now he’s mocking Trump’s makeup and “sweat mustache” after the last debate, and saying this:
"He's like 6'2'' which is why I don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2". Have you seen his hands? You know what they say about men with small hands? You can't trust them."
And this: “He asked for a full-length mirror. I don’t know why, the podium only went up to here. Maybe to make sure his pants weren’t wet, I don’t know.”
It’s not that I blame Rubio. Trump now routinely refers to him as “Little Marco.” He does a whole routine in which he mocks Rubio for sweating bullets and then gulps from a water bottle. Plus, Trump could emerge from today’s most delegate-rich day of the primary campaign as the all-but-certain nominee.
In presidential campaigns, you do what you gotta do.
But now the level of discourse has sunk pretty low. Forget taxes and terrorism, it’s becoming the Yo Mama election, more like a high school locker room than a race for the White House.
Entertainment and humor are part of any election. I don’t wring my hands when candidates land low blows. But the scale seems to have tilted toward the mockery side, even as everyone agrees the country is facing huge issues.
I’m not sure it’s wise for Rubio to engage in mud-wrestling with Trump, for he’s not likely to win that battle. He shows himself to be a fighter, but there’s a whiff of desperation as well. It will be fascinating to see whether the top-tier guys pull back a bit at the Fox News debate in Detroit on Thursday night.
Trump, meanwhile, finds himself in some hot water over David Duke. Now in fairness, I was watching last Friday when, at the Chris Christie press conference, Trump was asked about Duke backing him and said he would “disavow” it.
But when CNN’s Jake Tapper repeatedly asked him about this on Sunday, Trump seemed to sidestep the questions. When Tapper said he was just talking about Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump said, “Honestly, I don’t know David Duke.”
On “Today” yesterday, Trump blamed a faulty earpiece as he conducted the remote interview from his house in Florida: “The question was asked about David Duke and various groups, and I don’t know who the groups are. I said would you do me a favor and tell me the groups? He was unable to tell me that.”
Joe Scarborough, who’s given Trump his due and interviewed him many times, went off on The Donald yesterday.
“That’s disqualifying right there,” he said on MSNBC. “It’s breathtaking, that’s disqualifying right there. To say you don’t know about the Ku Klux Klan? You don’t know about David Duke?”
Scarborough was reacting in part as a southerner who wants no party of the ugly legacy of segregation. And he tweeted yesterday, "Public (and media) perception has been that if you correctly predicted Trump's viability, you must be a supporter."
My own theory, and it’s just that, is that having disavowed Duke’s endorsement, Trump didn’t want to generate another headline about it that would overshadow his message two days before Super Tuesday. But his failure to issue a forthright denuciation has gotten plenty of media traction.
All this could quickly fade if Trump wins most or all of the states in play today. Then all the candidates will have to reassess whether trading insults is the right path: Trump because he’ll be looking ahead to a general election, and Rubio and Cruz because they will have failed to dent his huge lead.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. 

Super Tuesday prizes: Candidates in fierce fight for Texas, other delegate goldmines

The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are charging into Super Tuesday in a coast-to-coast battle for delegates across 11 states -- but while they're looking for as many wins as possible, a few select states stand out as the crown jewels.
At the top of that list, in both primary contests, is Texas. The Lone Star State has the biggest cache -- 222 Democratic delegates and 155 for Republicans.
And perhaps no candidate is fighting harder for that prize than Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. The senator went all out on Monday, holding rallies in voter-rich Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in hopes of at least defeating national front-runner Donald Trump in Cruz's home state.
“We are going to have a very good Super Tuesday,” Cruz assured the Dallas crowd. Cruz has maintained a polling lead in the state, but knows a surprise loss there could doom his campaign.
For Republicans, the second-biggest prize is Georgia, with 76 delegates at stake. Both Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio put in face time with voters Monday in the final hours before polls open, while Cruz stayed rooted in Texas.
On the Democratic side, too, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have focused their efforts.
While Clinton declared Saturday night after her decisive win in the South Carolina primary that the campaign was going “national,” the former secretary of state was concentrating Monday on two delegate-heavy states -- the Democratic-stronghold of Massachusetts (91 delegates) and Virginia (95 delegates).
Solid wins there and beyond on Super Tuesday could give her a nearly insurmountable delegate count toward the nomination.
Clinton to date leads Sanders in the delegate count 543-to-85, including so-called superdelegates. They will compete for 865 delegates on Tuesday and a total of roughly 1,800 delegates over the next two weeks, with 2,382 needed to win the nomination.
The delegates on the line in a dozen states Tuesday represent a third of those needed to clinch the party nod.
And on the GOP side, 595 delegates are on the line Tuesday across 11 states -- nearly half the number needed to secure the nomination.
Sanders is focusing on Minnesota and Colorado, progressive states where he hopes his message of social and economic equality will translate into votes.
“Americans don’t need crumbs, they need the whole loaf,” Sanders said at a rally in Minneapolis.
He is expected on Tuesday to win his home state of Vermont, which has 16 Democratic delegates. Minnesota is worth far more, with 77 delegates.
Still, many of these contests divide delegates proportionally, and so Sanders is poised to walk away with some, even where he loses. His strategy appears to be to at least survive Tuesday, with hopes of a resurgence later this month in Maine and Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio.
On the Republican side, Trump has won three straight -- the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, and the Nevada Republican Caucus -- garnering 82 delegates.
Cruz kicked off the 2016 balloting by winning the Iowa Republican Caucus. He has 17 delegates, ahead of Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio with 16.
Though trailing in Texas, Trump holds big leads in other delegate-rich Super Tuesday states.
The billionaire businessman leads by double-digits in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia, according to RealClearPolitics poll averages. Rough 53 percent of the GOP’s 595 delegates on Tuesday are in those states.
Those polls were released before Trump over the weekend initially declined to disavow the backing of former KKK leader David Duke, which Rubio says makes him “unelectable.”
Trump has since disavowed the support and blamed a supposedly faulty earpiece for his original handling of the question.
The tough race is taking a toll on the candidates. Rubio, barnstorming the South to take hold of the GOP establishment mantle, temporarily lost his voice at a rally outside of Atlanta and needed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has endorsed him, to take the microphone.
The two other GOP candidates, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, have six and four delegates, respectively.