If Trump wins Ohio and Florida, it is definitely over. Cruz got the job done today, now Rubio and Kasich are up.
…while being enthusiastically boned by a giant armadillo!
Needed some cowbell, there, Bob.
Rubio HQ is empty except for a couple of trucks, and some guys picking up the fixtures.
If Rubio can win in a liberal caucus state, he should win a swing primary?
I don’t think that Trump even put any effort into Minnesota. From the looks of it, Rubio’s held several rallies there, as has Cruz, while the most Trump did was film another “Ivanka tells you how to caucus” video.
Has Trump really made an effort anywhere? Seems to me he’s just relying on free media everywhere.
He’s definitely held rallies and worked harder in other states. Minnesota, being a low value delegate prize and a caucus state, was ignored for more delegate rich targets. Yay Rubio for finally winning one and all but winning Virginia would have meant something. Winning Minnesota is… not a very good argument for winning Florida.
What is this Trump/NY Times tape that Cruz keeps yammering about?
Kasich is last in 6 states (Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, & Minnesota) and barely 4th in Texas.
Apparently, Trump told the NYT editorial board off the record that he was just joshin’ about the Big Mexican Wall and hating immigrants and stuff. And there’s a tape of it somewhere, and now Mitt Romney and others are *demanding *satisfaction.
Far more likely the people will awaken than he will.
I predict he’ll drop out late December or early January. 
Rubio won Minnesota, but he might only get one delegate more than Cruz and three delegates more than Trump.
Correction: it’s about seeing to it he HAS a first ballot majority.
Trump is an absolute shoo-in to lose if he’s the nominee; therefore it is imperative that he be the nominee.
That is hilarious. My husband has been saying all along that Trump doesn’t want this job. He’s a democrat with no filter, he ran because he thought it would be fun. Hubby thinks he’s playing at being President with no intention of taking the job. I’m not so sure, I think he wants it, but being able to do it is another matter.
OK, so Trump already had 82 delegates going in to tonight, and Rubio and Cruz had 16 and 17, respectively.
So now Trump’s at ~328, while Cruz is at about 195, and this is probably Cruz’ high water mark. Meanwhile, Rubio’s in the upper 130s.
First of all, Trump is on target to win the nomination outright.
Second, he’s way ahead of the others. If that continues - say he gets 1100 delegates, total, with the others having more collectively but no one candidate being particularly close - what happens when the GOP Establishment blocks Trump from being the winner? I don’t know either, but it’s not likely to be pretty.
Quite so, and I expect Trump will campaign fairly hard in Florida, knowing if he can pull off a win there, Rubio will be (perhaps fatally) weakened. I don’t think he cares as much about Kasich winning Ohio, he doesn’t see him as a threat (could that change if Kasich wins and Rubio loses? Hmmmmm…).
Next up is Saturday’s votes in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana (all apparently Trump-leaning) and Maine (and given the batshit-crazy governor they elected, who knows whom they’ll vote for). Next Tuesday is Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan and Mississippi (haven’t seen any polls for them, I suspect Trump will continue his Southern sweep in Mississippi) and then the big 15 March vote, with Florida, Illinois, Missouri, N. Carolina, and Ohio.
If Trump keeps his momentum for the next two weeks, he could virtually clinch on 15 March…not by having a majority, but simply making the other candidates seem irrelevant.
Next two weeks will be…interesting times…
I think there are two versions of over. There’s over where Trump gets a mandate, and the GOP can’t stop him. And there’s over that they can keep enough votes away from him to take it away from him at the convention. Neither ends up a pretty picture for the party.
Not pretty, but still awesome.
Oh, undeniably! I can’t wait till the GOP tells the GOP voters that their top choice isn’t going to be the nominee!