Clinton defeated in Michigan, but Trump victorious
Print Edition
DEMOCRATIC frontrunner Hillary Clinton suffered a surprise loss to challenger Bernie Sanders in a major state primary on Tuesday, as billionaire Donald Trump notched up a trio of easy victories in the Republican presidential nomination race.
The former secretary of state slumped to defeat in the industrial rust belt state of Michigan, where Sanders snagged 49.9 percent of the vote compared to Clinton’s 48.2 percent with most precincts already reported.
“This has been a fantastic night,” Sanders said before the race was called in his favor.
However, Clinton handily defeated her rival in Mississippi, thanks to a strong turnout by African-Americans.
Also, despite the upset, Clinton received a psychological boost by passing the half-way point in the race to reach the 2,382 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.
Nevertheless, even with the delegate mathematics in Clinton’s favor, Sanders’s strong showing will reinvigorate his campaign, and raised questions about her ability to win key industrial states, such as Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, in the general election.
Sanders, a senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist, has energized young voters with calls for greater economic equality and denunciations of what he sees as a corrupt political system.
Meanwhile, Trump shrugged off a barrage of negative advertising and intense efforts by the party establishment to derail his White House campaign to win primaries in Michigan and Mississippi, signaling to his rivals he can survive anything they throw at him.
He also emerged the victor of caucuses held in Hawaii.
“I don’t think I’ve had so many horrible, horrible things said about me in one week, US$38 million worth of horrible lies,” Trump told a crowd in Florida as he celebrated his first two victories.
“I think we ought to use that money to fight Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.”
No clean sweep
It was not a clean sweep for Trump, however. He came second to Senator Ted Cruz, his nearest Republican competitor, in Idaho.
Clinton has now won 13 of 22 nomination contests, with Trump prevailing in 15 of 24 as the two inch closer to victory in their respective races.
Marco Rubio suffered another poor showing, facing the prospect of receiving zero delegates from either Michigan or Mississippi. Trump has already called on him to drop out of the race, but he has vowed to stay in at least until his home state of Florida votes on Tuesday.
“They didn’t do so well tonight, folks,” Trump said in a victory speech in Florida, referring to his Republican rivals.
“Only one person did well tonight: Donald Trump.”
With his latest big wins, Trump solidified his claim to have the broadest appeal among the Republican electorate.
However, a new Washington Post poll of Republican-leaning registered voters shows him with 34 percent support nationwide, compared with 25 percent for Cruz, 18 percent for Rubio and 13 percent for John Kasich.
That is a tighter race than in January, when the Post showed Trump 16 points ahead of Cruz and 26 ahead of Rubio.
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