Hillary Clinton stormed closer to the Democratic presidential nomination with her landslide victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday. Today’s Super Tuesday primaries across the South may be the coup de grâce for Bernie Sanders.
Sanders’ anti-establishment platform still draws sizable numbers, but unless he works a miracle today Clinton will have firmly taken the reins. Doing such will permit her to bank contributions and build her war chest to monumental proportions.
She and President Obama have been favorite targets of Republican candidates, although if Donald Trump prevails some may take a pass on voting in the fall election.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., announced he would not support Trump, saying he would look for a third candidate who espouses the conservative values he cherishes.
Likely the vast majority of Republicans would bite their tongues and mark Trump’s name if he is the GOP nominee. Few would be able to stomach Clinton — and “four more years of Obama,” as they rail — or an unabashed democratic socialist in Sanders.
WHILE THE Dems await Super Tuesday’s results, Republicans will watch just as intently though from a different perspective. Many in the GOP are uncomfortable — to phrase it mildly — with Trump leading their charge into November.
Ted Cruz tops the poll in Texas, his home state.
In concession to reality, Cruz reportedly said if Trump does well today, it would be hard to derail his campaign.
Seasoned observers, from the cerebral George Will on down, still maintain Trump has made enough missteps, taken enough outrageous positions and been vague enough on details to lead to his downfall.
Perhaps. However, Trump’s advisers seem to have calculated a strong enough strategy to cement support among an electorate that is fed up with the so-called establishment and gridlock in Washington.
Obama’s support is less than 50 percent by several points, but it looks sterling compared to that of Congress, which can muster barely into the teens.
Tonight’s tallies will give a clearer view of the big picture, although on the Republican side if Cruz, Marco Rubio or both have had good days it will have become even more muddled.
— Bob Johnson
