Cruz win in Utah barely dents Trump's lead

UPDATE: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won the Utah Republican caucus with a large enough margin to take all the state’s 40 delegates. With 84 percent of precincts reporting, Cruz has 69 percent of the vote. Ohio Gov. John Kasich came in second with 16.9 percent, and Donald Trump garnered just 14 percent of the vote.

Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in Utah and Idaho, giving him momentum going into this week’s campaign rallies—if not a big boost in the delegate count. Sanders now has 927 delegates to front-runner Hillary Clinton’s 1,681.

“These decisive victories in Idaho and Utah give me confidence that we will continue to win major victories in the coming contests,” Sanders said in a statement.

On the Republican side, Trump retains a commanding lead with 739 delegates to Cruz’s 465. Kasich has 143. The three men spent most of yesterday focused on foreign policy following the terror attack in Brussels.

Cruz pointed to Trump’s lack of experience in dealing with a foreign threat, especially one as serious as Islamic State.

“He doesn’t have the minimal knowledge one would expect from a staffer at the State Department, much less from the commander in chief,” he told reporters. “The stakes are too high for learning on the job.”

Trump and Clinton focused on bashing each other.

“Incompetent Hillary doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. “She doesn’t have a clue.”

Clinton suggested Trump’s outlandish rhetoric would only make sensitive world conflicts more volatile.

“This is about not only selecting a president, but also selecting a commander in chief,” she said. “The last thing we need is leaders who incite more fear.”

OUR EARLIER REPORT (March 22, 11 p.m.): Donald Trump has won the Arizona Republican presidential primary after catapulting ahead of his challengers in early returns.

With less than 5 percent of precincts reporting, Trump has 46 percent of the vote and a 25.5 percent margin over Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. All of Arizona’s 58 delegates will go to Trump, boosting him to a 739 delegate total.

Trump’s victory in Arizona was expected. Analysts predict Cruz will win the Utah caucus, which will not end until 1 a.m. EDT. But he must take more than 50 percent of the vote to carry all the state’s 40 delegates. Cruz now has 425 delegates heading into this summer’s Republican convention. The eventual nominee will need 1,237 delegates to win the party’s support.

Hillary Clinton won Arizona’s Democratic primary by a margin similar to Trump’s. With less than 5 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton enjoys a 23.2 percent margin over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Clinton so far has 60.3 percent of the vote to Sanders’ 37 percent.

With her victory in Arizona, Clinton boosted her delegate total to 1,670. Sanders has 886. The eventual winner needs to secure 2,383 delegates to capture the party’s nomination.

Democrats also are casting ballots in Idaho and Utah tonight.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.