Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Trump and Sanders win Indiana; Cruz drops out

Donald Trump soundly defeated Ted Cruz 53% to 37% in Indiana, winning all 57 delegates.   Kasich lagged far behind at 8%.   Cruz, after throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Trump in the last week, had reached the end of any conceivable path to winning the nomination.   So he announced the suspension of his campaign.

Donald Trump is now the presumptive nominee for president from the Republican Party.   He gave a victory speech that was oddly subdued.   It was rather traditional in that he thanked everyone, talked about unifying the party, and said some nice things about Cruz and the way he handled his exit.   

But his speech was also astoundingly vacuous, consisting of the same empty slogans and boasts he always uses.   One has to wonder what he's really thinking at this point.   Does the enormity of the job he's running for crack through his self-grandiosity at all?   Does he have any inkling of what he doesn't know that he needs to know?

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders racked up another impressive win with a 53% to 47% edge over Hillary Clinton.   This was not unexpected, and her campaign had signaled that they were not expecting to win.

The truth is that it will make virtually no difference in delegates, however  -- something like 43 for Sanders and 37 for Clinton -- because the Democrats award them proportionally.  The effect on the overall delegate math is minor.

What it does, however, is keep his momentum going and make his continued quest a little more legitimate.   Perhaps it might give him a little more clout in influencing the platform, the party rules, and the agenda for the party going forward

Ralph

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