Can Cruz pull out a buzzer-beater in Indiana?
Hoosiers award the last big delegate haul before California and could help seal the nomination for the two front-runners
It has been an impressive two weeks for businessman and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who looks to start his victory lap tonight.
Since New York’s GOP primary on April 19, Trump has scooped up 240 delegates. His challengers, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, picked up just nine and six respectively during the same period.
Both Kasich and Cruz are mathematically eliminated from wrapping up the Republican presidential nomination before the GOP convention in July—but they continue to campaign hard to take away votes from the front-runner. Trump has already shifted his focus to the general election and is looking for Indiana to be the exclamation point on his way to the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.
But the Hoosier state could take some of the wind out of his trademark bluster if either Cruz or Kasich can secure enough votes to push the contest to the June 7 primary in California, the next delegate-rich state to go to the polls. Cruz has campaigned hard in Indiana, and today emphasized that Trump does not represent American values.
“We are not a proud, boastful, self-centered, mean-spirited, hateful, bullying nation,” he said.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won four out of five contests last week and extended her large lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., by 50 delegates. She heads into Indiana almost mathematically assured of securing her party’s nomination. Clinton could lose each of the 12 remaining Democratic contests by 20 points or more and still win the nomination, according to NPR.
Polling is sparse in Indiana, since the state does not allow pollsters to make automated calls, but available data still gives Clinton a slight advantage over her opponent. Clinton has 91 percent of the delegates she needs to punch her ticket for November, with another 83 up for grabs today.
Sanders has said he will stay in the race until the last round of primaries on June 7. He remains hopeful of finding a path forward even if the numbers are stacked against him.
“For us to win the majority of pledged delegates, we need to win 710 out of the remaining 1,083,” Sanders said Sunday. “That is 65 percent. That is, admittedly, a tough road to climb, but not an impossible one. And we intend to fight for every vote and delegate remaining.”
The self-described democratic-socialist clings to hope that unbound Democratic delegates, often referred to as “superdelegates,” will decide to vote for him instead of Clinton at the party convention.
Excluding superdelegates, Clinton leads Sanders 1,645 to 1,318, but she has nearly 500 more unbound delegates in her camp than Sanders, a disparity the senator claims is unfair. On Sunday, he noted that in Washington state, where he won 73 percent of the popular vote, 10 unbound delegates still pledged support to Clinton while none went to him.
“I would ask the superdelegates from the state of Washington to respect the wishes from the people in their state and the votes they have cast,” Sanders said.
On the Republican side, Trump is not coasting at the same level as Clinton, but sweeping all five states last week put the reality television star in a position to quiet talk of a contested convention.
Trump has 996 delegates, with a chance to win 57 more in Indiana. The Hoosier state awards candidates in a hybrid style, with 30 delegates going to the winner of the popular vote and the remaining allotted three at a time to the winner of each of the state’s nine congressional districts.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence endorsed Cruz on Sunday, writing in the Indianapolis Star that Cruz is the only principled conservative left in the presidential race.
But his endorsement may be too little and too late.
In addition to waiting until two days before his state votes to formally give a nod to Cruz, Pence refrained from saying anything negative about Trump. The governor even said he “respected” the businessman.
Meanwhile, Trump has been campaigning with beloved former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, who led teams to three national titles. He told voters at a Trump rally there has “never been a more honest politician than Donald Trump.”
Trump relished the thumbs-up from the Hall of Fame coach and called it “the greatest endorsement in the history of Indiana.”
Of the remaining states, Indiana has the second most delegates up for grabs, behind California. Next up for the Republicans are primaries in Nebraska and West Virginia next Tuesday. The Democrats will also square off in West Virginia next week, with a contest in the U.S. territory of Guam on Saturday.
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