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With primary voting now under way in Illinois, airplanes have taken flight above the Chicago skyline displaying banners stating: “Chicago Stands with Laquan, Hillary Stands with Rahm,” as activists seek to hurt Hillary Clinton in her home state’s polls by connecting her to the death of Laquan McDonald.
“Tell me who you know, and I’ll tell you who you are,” said Tess Raser, an organizer with Assata’s Daughters, the group coordinating today’s banner actions, said before the planes took flight. “To this day, Hillary Clinton has yet to condemn Chicago’s anti-black mayor.”
Since the release of the footage showing McDonald being shot 16-times by a veteran white cop, the city has found itself at the epicentre of debates on police violence while also facing a federal investigation into the practices of their police department.
In the wake of so much attention, activists have declared the city’s mayor - and any politician that does not denounce him - as responsible for the mishandling of the McDonald case and the police department they see as far too brutal, and also an enemy to their movement to end police brutality.
“Any politician who supports Emanuel should consider themselves implicated in his misconduct,” Raser continued, pointing to Clinton voicing confidence in the mayor last December. “Anti-black politicians are not welcome in Chicago whether they are running for state’s attorney or president of the United States.”
Today’s aerial demonstration also hopes to unseat current state’s attorney Anita Alvarez, who is up for reelection, for her role in the handling of the McDonald case as well.
On Saturday, senator Bernie Sanders deployed a similar tactic of aligning Clinton with Emanuel - Barack Obama’s former chief of staff - while speaking at a press conference in Chicago where he thanked the city’s mayor for choosing not to endorse him.
“Based on his disastrous record as mayor of the city of Chicago, I do not want Mayor Emanuel’s endorsement if I win the Democratic nomination,” Sanders said, noting that Clinton “proudly” lists Emanuel as a supporter.
The Franklin Township Fire Department polling station is surrounded by farms in the north part of Richland County, Ohio – about halfway in between Columbus and Cleveland. They were doing a brisk business at 4:00pm today, and polling workers said that there had been a line (albeit a short one) all day.
Big ol' VOTE HERE yard sign at the Franklin Township Fire Department in Richland County Ohio. pic.twitter.com/ZPfFU8r7Fm
— Megan Carpentier (@megancarpentier) March 15, 2016
Voters were queueing up to use a new identification system – the PollPad – which scanned the magnetic strip on their drivers licenses or state-issued IDs before heading over to the electronic voting machines to cast their ballots.
Outside, Teresa Fitch and her son Terry said that they’d voted for Ted Cruz.
“He was the best choice,” Teresa, an elementary school teacher, explained. “Trump has switched parties so many times, who knows what he’d do. And governor Kasich has a track record with teachers,” she said, referring to an anti-union effort in his first term.
“He tried to mess with us once, I’ll bet not one teacher votes for him. And maybe not a firefighter or a police officer either.”
Vox Pop: the transport worker who reasons ‘Hillary brings Bill’
Fort Lauderdale voter Lisa Hastye is backing Hillary, with some reservations. She wants Bill back in the White House pic.twitter.com/fYFxzZtO3l
— Richard Luscombe (@richlusc) March 15, 2016
Name: Lisa Hastye
Age: 54
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Occupation: Federal government transportation worker
Voted for: Hillary Clinton (reluctantly)
“My biggest issue is keeping the economy going. The economy is linked to way of life. We live in a country that I’m so proud of being in but I have a problem with the fact we have people who are homeless, who don’t have enough food to eat, who don’t have a quality of life that is acceptable, while there are some that have so much. I’ve always been aware of homelessness in this country, it’s always been my kind of cause. The fact that we have homeless veterans people who go out and defend the country then come back and live on the streets, that to me is a problem.
“I would prefer to feel a little more enthusiastic about who I’m voting for, I think I’m just kind of exhausted with this whole fiasco. But Hillary brings Bill, and they’d make a good partnership. Bill Clinton was a good president, when he was there our economy was really quite good. He got along with Congress, he could collaborate and work with them, and the fact he has some input would be a greater comfort to me than anything. It’s not that I don’t like Hillary, it’s just that she comes with war wounds and scars that I’d prefer her not to have, but at least she comes armed.”
What to expect in Missouri
Primaries: Republican and Democratic presidential primaries
Delegates: 52 Republican delegates, 84 Democratic delegates
Things to watch out for: Although Missouri is holding Republican and Democratic primaries, the results of the Republican vote will not be binding – as was also the case in 2012, when Rick Santorum won here. Last September, the Missouri Republican state committee announced the rules governing this year’s Republican primary: if a candidate wins an absolute majority of votes (anything more than 50%), Missouri will be a winner-take-all state; if not, the candidate with the highest vote share in each congressional district would get five delegates, and the leading candidate statewide would be awarded nine delegates. The remaining three delegates would be unbound, much like Democratic superdelegates.
In terms of outcomes, predicting the results in Missouri is pretty much guesswork. Just two Democratic polls have been conducted there this year, and only one poll has asked Republican voters who they prefer – those surveys have suggested Sanders and Clinton are neck-and-neck while Trump is ahead of the Republican field. But they simply aren’t a reliable indication of voter preferences in Missouri.
Demographics: The electorate in Missouri is whiter with a slightly lower median household income than national averages. Officials currently expect around 34% of registered voters to show up and cast a ballot in Tuesday’s primary – although this varies considerably throughout the state, from a projected low of 7% turnout in Washington County to a high of 74% in Caldwell County.
The voting precinct at the Mount Vernon Ave AME Church Outreach Center in Columbus, Ohio, was quiet, as elderly neighborhood residents trickled in and out of a rear door by a small parking lot, helped to the site by a community shuttle servicing elderly and disabled residents. Out front, an older man walked down Mount Vernon Avenue shouting “Get over it!” over and over as he walked past without stopping.
Now let's play "spot the voting precinct" here at the Mount Vernon AME Outreach Center in Columbus, OH. pic.twitter.com/kETTLz5gzB
— Megan Carpentier (@megancarpentier) March 15, 2016
But precinct workers were jittery as I tried to talk to voters. “This is an important election, and I want the voice of the people to be heard,” one said, while asking me to leave.
“They’ll do anything to try to shut us down,” she added, asking not to be identified.
Outside, Chuck Minter, 81, was unperturbed and happy to have voted for Hillary Clinton. “I’ve been voting for 60 years”, he said, noting that, in his youth, the voting age was 21. “In those 60 years, I’ve only missed voting one time in any kind of election.”
“That one was a primary, and the time just passed me by,” he said with a hint of regret.
Vox Pop: The retiree who’s never missed an election
Name: Chuck Minter
Age: 81
Location: Columbus, OH
Occupation: Retired
Voted for: Hillary Clinton
“My most important issue is everyone having equal rights. Hillary’s a good Democrat and she’s always stood for those kinds of principles... I’ve been voting for 60 years. In those 60 years, I’ve only missed voting one time in any election. That one was a primary, and time just passed me by.”
Vox Pop: The millennial voting for Cruz to damage Trump
Name: Alexander Manning
Age: 21
Location: Miami Beach, Florida
Voted For: Ted Cruz
“The discrepancy between the top one percent and the rest of the country. It’s corrupting our whole political system, the media and everything else. The one percent control the media, and the media’s controlling everyone else. It’s big problem for me. I’m a registered Republican so I’m going to vote for Cruz to try to keep Trump out. In the election I’ll vote for Hillary or Bernie. But the wealth problem is such a massive issue. It’s hard to know what to do about it.”
What to expect in North Carolina
Primaries: Republican and Democratic presidential primaries
Delegates: 72 Republican delegates, 121 Democratic delegates
Things to watch out for: Polls currently show Clinton leading steadily here and, to a lesser extent, Trump too. Again, vote shares matter, including for Republicans – this is the only state where there’s no minimum threshold to get delegates. The GOP simply assigns them in proportion to votes received at the primary. Results in North Carolina could be surprising – Trump’s lead here has varied in recent polls from just 9 points to as much as 20.
Demographics: One in five voting-age residents of North Carolina are black (nationally that figure is one in eight). That might work against Sanders, who has struggled to appeal to black voters according to some exit polls. Voter turnout was 35% in 2012 and and 37% in 2008. So far, Republicans have seen growth in primary turnout while the opposite is true for Democrats. (There have been some exceptions – in Michigan, where Sanders won big last week, almost twice as many voters showed up as in 2008.) High turnout may work in Sanders’ favour on 15 March
At a unity luncheon at the Capitol, Barack Obama told members of Congress that he has been disturbed by ‘‘vulgar and divisive rhetoric’’ of the 2016 presidential campaign thus far, a not-so-subtle dig at Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
“I know that I’m not the only one in this room who may be more than a little dismayed about what’s happening on the campaign trail lately,” Obama said. “We have heard vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women and minorities - at Americans who don’t look like ‘us,’ or pray like ‘us,’ or vote like we do. We’ve seen misguided attempts to shut down that speech, however offensive it may be.”
“In response to those attempts, we’ve seen actual violence, and we’ve heard silence from too many of our leaders,” he continued. “Speaker Ryan, I appreciated the words on this topic that you shared with us this morning. But too often we’ve accepted this as somehow the new normal.”
“It’s worth asking ourselves what each of us may have done to contribute to this kind of vicious atmosphere in our politics. I suspect that all of us can recall some intemperate words that we regret. Certainly, I can,” Obama said.
“And while some may be more to blame than others for the current climate, all of us are responsible for reversing it. For it is a cycle that is not an accurate reflection of America. And it has to stop. And I say that not because it’s a matter of ‘political correctness,’ it’s about the way that corrosive behavior can undermine our democracy, and our society, and even our economy.”
“In America, there aren’t laws that say that we have to be nice to each other, or courteous, or treat each other with respect. But there are norms. There are customs. There are values that our parents taught us and that we try to teach to our children - to try to treat others the way we want to be treated; the notion that kindness breeds kindness. The longer that we allow the political rhetoric of late to continue, and the longer that we tacitly accept it, we create a permission structure that allows the animosity in one corner of our politics to infect our broader society. And animosity breeds animosity.”
“And this is also about the American brand. Who are we? How are we perceived around the world? There’s a reason that America has always attracted the greatest talent from every corner of the globe. There’s a reason that ‘Made in America’ means something. It’s because we’re creative, and dynamic, and diverse, and inclusive, and open. Why would we want to see that brand tarnished?”
Updated
What to expect in Illinois
Primaries: Republican and Democratic presidential primaries
Delegates: 69 Republican delegates, 182 Democratic delegates
Things to watch out for: Illinois is a crucial state in the Democratic race. Polling averages currently show that Clinton is ahead of Sanders by just 2 percentage points. But there’s a significant margin of error on those numbers, given that they’re based on just three polls prior to which Clinton was easily leading in the double digits. If polling turns out to be as flawed here as it was in Michigan last week, Sanders’ climb to the White House might not be so uphill after all. There’s also a lack of good polling data among Republicans that live here – only six polls have been conducted here so far this year, but all show Trump with a small but steady lead on other candidates.
Demographics: The profile of Illinois’ electorate is almost identical to the US national average. And voter concerns are similar to those expressed nationally too – a CBS/You Gov poll of 1,681 registered voters in Illinois that was conducted from 9-11 March found that 74% of respondents felt the economy in their state was doing badly. Half of Republican voters in the poll said they felt that trade with other countries takes away US jobs – a message that has been a key part of Trump’s presidential campaign.
Vox Pop: The social worker voting for Hillary Clinton
Name: Nancy Zemina
Age: 64
Location: Lake Worth, Florida
Occupation: Social worker, retired
Voted for: Hillary Clinton
Issue that matters most: Health care
“Before Obama took office, there were [45+] million uninsured people and that number has been halved, or more than halved, with Obamacare.I find the fact that Republicans have tried 40 times to get rid of Obamacare ridiculous. And I think for Republican candidates to promise to repeal Obamacare without offering a plan to replace it is a crime against their constituents. I feel very passionately about this.”
Zemina said she’s confounded why working class Americans would cast their vote for a Republican candidate.
“Republicans are appealing to people who’ve had the wool pulled over their eyes. If they could just see through the rhetoric, they [Republican voters] would realize they’re voting against their own interest. But some people are just angry and they direct it at Obama. But really, if Republicans hadn’t blocked everything Obama tried to do they would have many more services.”
Zemina is hopeful that Clinton will be able to bridge the partisan divide and work with Republicans to follow through on her agenda. “Her husband was very successful, being the consummate politician, and working with everyone to pass his agenda. I hope she can do the same.”
What to expect in Ohio
Primaries: Republican and Democratic presidential primaries
Delegates: 66 Republican delegates, 159 Democratic delegates
Things to watch out for: This is the only state to vote on 15 March where Trump is not polling ahead of other candidates – John Kasich, who is the governor of Ohio, is 3 points ahead of him. That might not sound like much, but Ohio is a winner-takes-all state with 66 GOP delegates available. A win for Kasich wouldn’t give him any real chance of securing the nomination, but for Republicans, the strategy at this point may be simply about trying to erode Trump’s delegate numbers as much as possible (at least according to Rubio adviser Alex Conant). If Kasich loses, he will almost certainly drop out of the race. Clinton’s lead here has eroded in recent weeks from double digits to an average lead of 8 percentage points. This is yet another state where Sanders might surpass expectations – particularly given the state’s demographics.
Demographics: Ohio’s electorate is whiter and has a slightly lower median household income than the US median ($49,000 compared to $54,000). A poll from Quinnipiac University earlier this month found that gender could play a big role in Ohio’s primary for both parties. The results showed that men back Trump over Kasich 40%-33% while women choose Kasich 44%-37%. Among Democrats, the gaps were even larger with women backing Clinton over Sanders 56%-39% and men choosing Sanders 55%-43%. As ever, it’s not just overall turnout numbers that matter, but more specifically which voters show up.
Updated
Ohio governor John Kasich has spent the last week making two basic pitches to voters in his home state, as he fights for the future of his presidential campaign ahead of Tuesday’s make-or-break primary in Ohio, reports the Guardian’s Megan Carpentier.
His first pitch – much like Hillary Clinton’s, actually – is that he has experience in getting things done in Washington (from his eight terms in Congress and his five terms atop the House budget committee) and as the leader of an executive branch (his one-and-a-half terms as governor of the swing state of Ohio). His policies aren’t theoretical solutions; his efficacy won’t be based on how well Congress takes to being coerced (which is never well).
His second pitch is that, unlike his opponents, he’s a decent human being.
Vox Pop: The pro-Hillary Miami matron
Name: Rose McVeigh
Age: 58
Location: Miami Beach, Florida
Voted for: Hillary Clinton
“The biggest problem in this country is income inequality and the top one percent. We haven’t had a significant wage increase in fifteen years. I would like to vote for Bernie Sanders but I don’t think this country is ready for a candidate like that. Hillary and Bernie share a lot the values I believe in - human rights, women’s rights, religious tolerance. The polar opposite of Donald Trump.”
“I don’t have a problem with Hillary being in the top one percent - this country is based on capitalism. Shes done an incredible work helping civil rights and healthcare, even though they’re not where they need to be. She’s highly qualified, the one who can bring us together, and she’s been fighting her entire life to be right where she is today. She deserves it.”
Updated
What to expect in Florida
Primaries: Republican and Democratic presidential primaries
Delegates: 99 Republican delegates, 246 Democratic delegates
Things to watch out for: For Republicans, this is the most important state to vote on 15 March. If Senator Rubio were going to win big anywhere, it probably would be here, in his home state. However, polling averages show that Donald Trump has consistently been in first place for voters since September and is leading by 19 points in this winner-takes-all state. Clinton, too, has had a clear lead in Florida for months – so far this month, polls have suggested she is 30 points ahead of Sanders. Remember though, unlike the Republican race, the exact vote share matters for Democrats since this affects how delegates are distributed. Sanders doesn’t need to win Florida, he needs only to erode Clinton’s lead here and collect around 100 of the pledged delegates that are available.
Demographics: Of the 15.9 million Floridians who are of voting age, 12 million are currently registered to vote. The electorate is slightly older and more likely to be Hispanic than the national voting profile. A poll from Monmouth earlier this month found that 35% of Republicans don’t approve of the way that Rubio is handling his job as senator and just 7% were undecided about who they would vote for.
The first sneak peek of Hillary Clinton’s appearance on Comedy Central’s Broad City has been released online:
The takeaway: Clinton can blink with both eyes!
Vox Pop: The Ohio State student supporting Bernie Sanders
Name: Ryan Antone
Age: 22
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Occupation: Ohio State University student
Voted for: Bernie Sanders
“My biggest issue right now is how this college system is structured, not to be a cliche. We take out all these loans because we think that this major will pay off in the future, but I’m already just bogged down in debt. Maybe Bernie won’t achieve full tuition-free college, but that’s not why I voted for him. I love Bernie because he has that sense that we can do more, we don’t have to settle. I think Hillary Clinton would be a great candidate but she’s said, ‘I’m the one who can get things done.’ Well, I don’t like the system as it is. Why can’t we try?”
Open contributions: Which election issue matters most to you?
Updated
Republican presidential candidate John Kasich cast his vote in the state primary on Tuesday, confirming to the gathered press afterward that he had selected his own name on the ballot.
He told reporters that he wasn’t going to let frontrunner Donald Trump “ruin” his day, and went on to comment on the way the reality star has been running his campaign, saying he hoped someone would “pull [him] aside” if he ever got “out of control” in the same way.
The Guardian’s Megan Carpentier is having a hard time finding polling places in Ohio...
Can you spot the sign labeling this an Ohio primary voting location near OSU campus? pic.twitter.com/kVOWvbFJrQ
— Megan Carpentier (@megancarpentier) March 15, 2016
The polling place at Ohio State University’s Newman Center - a Catholic community center on campus - was quiet during lunch hour, as just a handful of students trickled in to cast their ballots.
“It’s student break,” a poll worker explained. “But we got a lot of notification of early voters” when they received the rolls.
The polling place on the western-most corner of OSU’s enormous Columbus, Ohio campus wasn’t easy to find, though: The entrance is on a side street, through a door at the end of the parking lot with only a letter-sized piece of paper reading “VOTING HERE” affixed to the window.
Updated
In the midwest, Sanders and Clinton are peddling very different visions of America, report the Guardian’s Dan Roberts and Lauren Gambino. In a fight for blue-collar votes, Clinton hails Obama’s legacy, but her rival condemns a “rigged economy” that rewards the rich.
Despite spending days crisscrossing the same midwest battlegrounds in search of votes that could decide the Democratic primary once and for all, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton enter Tuesday’s rustbelt showdown with two very different visions of the region’s economic fortunes.
In keeping with a “glass half full” view of America, the former secretary of state is keen to stress the progress made under the current administration, particularly in reducing unemployment since the financial crisis.
“I don’t think President Obama gets the credit he deserves for getting us back,” she told a union hall in Illinois on Monday.
Sanders, meanwhile, has doubled down on his thesis that Americans are still labouring under a “rigged economy”, telling a rival crowd in Ohio that the country is literally “falling apart” due to crumbling infrastructure and a corrupt campaign finance system.
Donald Trump’s surge to frontrunner status in the Republican presidential race has caused angst and divisions among the donor network led by the billionaire Koch brothers, some of whom pushed to launch a sustained anti-Trump drive and were rebuffed, reports the Guardian’s Peter Stone:
“I’m extremely disappointed about the Koch network being off the playing field,” Randy Kendrick, a leading Koch donor from Arizona, told the Guardian about the absence of anti-Trump efforts. “This country does not believe in rule by strongmen or cult personality figures.”
After pushing for a Koch network blitz against Trump, the conservative network’s top political operative, Marc Short, left last month to advise the Rubio campaign and consult for several Senate and gubernatorial candidates, some of whom are likely to get Koch network backing too, say two GOP sources.
While the Koch network’s leadership opted not to attack Trump – due to divisions over alternative candidates, fears an attack would backfire and wariness about getting involved in the election at the primary stage – some of its individual donors have plowed over $4m into the anti-Trump Super Pac Our Principles, including the Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs; hedge fund mogul Paul Singer; Randy Kendrick, whose husband Ken is an Arizona Diamondbacks co-owner; and billionaire Stan Hubbard.
Next in Campaign 2016: A contested convention?
If Donald Trump wins both Ohio and Florida, he would have a stranglehold on the nomination – but any other outcome leaves open the possibility of a contested convention, report the Guardian’s David Smith, Megan Carpentier and Ben Jacobs:
Republicans go to the polls in five states today facing a stark choice between Donald Trump and a protracted race that could descend into chaos and, some fear, potential violence.
On a critical day for the party’s future, Trump could virtually lock up the nomination if he wins the delegate-rich states of Florida and Ohio, probably eliminating rivals Marco Rubio and John Kasich in the process.
But if the New York billionaire falls short, he could face an uphill struggle in the remaining primaries to clinch the 1,237 delegates needed for an outright win, raising the spectre of a contested Republican convention in July. Even if Trump goes to the convention with the most delegates, the Republican establishment could mount a rearguard action to snatch the nomination from him.
One-in-four Americans would consider leaving the United States if billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump were elected president, according to a poll from Morning Consult/Vox poll released today.
Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said that they would likely consider leaving (fleeing?) the US if Trump were elected, while 65% said that they would remain. Of those who said that they would be open to leaving, more than half said they are “very likely” to consider moving. There’s a predictable party-line split among those willing to explore moving to Canada: 49 percent of self-described liberals said they’d consider leaving the US if Trump were elected, while only 12% of conservatives said so.
Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, seems open to the idea of welcoming would-be citizens from Canada’s southern neighbor. At a Huffington Post town hall, Trudeau floated the possibility of an island off Canada’s Atlantic coast as a potential home for American expatriates.
“The fact is Cape Breton is lovely, all times of the year,” Trudeau said. “If people do want to make choices that perhaps suit their lifestyles better, Canada’s always welcoming!”
Brief, though not-earth shattering, quotes on Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ election prospects:
Bernie Sanders arrived for breakfast at Lou Mitchell’s, a Chicago institution ten minutes drive from his hotel. A few shouts of recognition punctuated his arrival - “way to go Bernie”, “looking tired Bernie” - but otherwise he made as low-key an entrance as anyone can make into a diner with a half dozen cameras and a security detail.
In keeping with tradition, he briefly shook a few hands but did not get into prolonged conversation with anyone except table companions Chuy García and his wife Evelyn, before tucking into what looked like an omelette.
Donna More, who is running for Cook County state attorney, was conveniently eating at a nearby table and came over to say hi but was enlisted into taking a photo with the restaurant’s owner. One supporter, Yvonne Oby, got a hug. Several more got selfies.
Asked by your pooler how he was feeling about tonight, Sanders said “I’ll tell you in a few hours”.
Is he worried about former secretary of state Hillary Clinton piling on the delegates, even if he wins the Midwest?
“I think that if there is a large voter turnout, we are going to do just great here in Illinois, in Missouri, Ohio, and hopefully North Carolina and Florida. In the states that are coming down the pike, we have great opportunities to win many of them, so we are feeling really good.”
Updated
Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump, is lambasting Ohio governor John Kasich’s chances at seizing the Republican presidential nomination.
Mathematically it is statistically impossible for Kasich to get to 1237 - he would need 112% of the remaining delegates to be the nominee!
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) March 15, 2016
The younger Trump, a graduate of Georgetown University with a degree in finance, might want to check his math. There are 1,401 available delegates remaining in the Republican presidential primary, and Kasich already has 63 delegates to his name, which means that Kasich would have to win 83% of the remaining delegates to claim the party’s nomination.
That is by no means easy, but also by no means “statistically impossible.”
Spotted in Ohio:
Some things are better left un-tattooed. pic.twitter.com/kJ3MyoY1tG
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) March 15, 2016
Donald Trump briefly faced the threat of criminal charges on Monday night, as efforts grew across the political spectrum to check his increasingly violent rise on the eve of key US primary elections, reports the Guardian’s Dan Roberts.
Police in North Carolina were reportedly investigating whether the Republican frontrunner should be prosecuted for incitement after an African American protester was hit in the face as he was escorted out of a rally in Fayetteville last week.
Trump has previously said he would like to punch protesters “in the face”himself, expressing nostalgia for a time when those causing disruption would be “carried out on a stretcher”. In common with other recent incidents, he offered to pay the legal fees of the assailant involved on Thursday.
A Cumberland county sheriff spokesman said late on Monday that they would not charge Trump over the incident.
Ohio governor John Kasich hast cast his vote in the Buckeye State’s Republican primary. Any guesses who he pulled the lever for?
John Kasich casts his vote for himself for president in the #OhioPrimary. pic.twitter.com/ONHatOcFh9
— Kailani Koenig (@kailanikm) March 15, 2016
The latest ad against billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump uses the often-vulgar candidate’s own words against him.
The ad, created by Our Principles PAC, a super pac attempting to prevent Trump’s ascendance to the Republican presidential nomination by any means necessary, features women reading Trump’s most bombastic and offensive quotations aloud.
“Bimbo,” “dog,” “fat pig,” the litany of insults begins.
“Women: You have to treat ‘em like shit,” one woman quotes.
“You know, it really doesn’t matter what they write, as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass,” says another.
“I like kids! I mean, I won’t do anything to take care of them - I’ll supply funds, and she’ll take care of the kids,” another says.
“She had the height; she had the beauty. She was crazy, but these are minor details,” one woman quotes, as a chyron explains that Trump was talking about the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
“If you believe America deserves better, vote against Donald Trump,” the ad says at its conclusion.
Anonymous declares "total war" on Donald Trump, again
The hacking collective Anonymous has vowed once again to “dismantle” Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and to “expose what he doesn’t want the public to know”.
The group announced its re-engagement of “OpTrump” through its traditional propaganda video, aiming to take down one of Trump’s property websites for Chicago on 1 April.
Anonymous said: “We have been watching you for a long time and what we’ve seen is deeply disturbing. You don’t stand for anything but your personal greed and power.
“This is a call to arms. Shut down his websites, research and expose what he doesn’t want the public to know. We need you to dismantle his campaign and sabotage his brand.”
Anonymous last declared war on Trump at the end of 2015 in response to Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US. At the time the group took down the website of New York’s Trump Tower using a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) that overwhelms a site’s servers using bogus traffic.
Whether this renewed effort by Anonymous will have a greater impact on Trump and his campaign for the US presidential elections is unclear. But the collective is urging everyone to support their campaign saying “you do not need to know how to hack to support this operation”.
“This is a declaration of total war. OperationTrump engaged.”
Trump has been the target of several hacking groups, allegedly leaking personal information, voicemail messages and attacking his various sites, all of which have had little effect on his popularity.
What time is the Super Bowl primary over?
Here’s a handy timeline for when we’re anticipating polls to close in Super-er Tuesday tonight:
- Northern Mariana Islands: The polls are already closed! Donald Trump won.
- Florida, Part I: Most polls in the Sunshine State close at 7 pm EDT, but the western panhandle will have polls open until 8 pm EDT.
- North Carolina, Ohio: The first statewide polls will close at 7:30 pm EDT in North Carolina and Ohio. In North Carolina, which has shattered previous records in absentee votes, nearly half of its total ballots could be counted by 8 pm tonight - expect an early-ish call there in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Ohio, too, has been above-pace for absentee and early-voting ballots, which could mean a similarly quick count.
- Florida, Part II, Illinois, Missouri: Polls will close in Illinois and Missouri, as well as in the Florida panhandle, at 8 pm EDT. Florida will be called earlier, since the ballot-counting process in the most populous parts of the state will have been going on for an hour; Illinois and Missouri will be on the later side.
A bombshell report from Politico paints a more-than-unflattering portrait of Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Donald Trump and accused assailant in a criminal complaint filed by a female campaign journalist.
I guess these just magically appeared on me @CLewandowski_ @realDonaldTrump. So weird. pic.twitter.com/oD8c4D7tw3
— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) March 10, 2016
According to more than 20 sources, Lewandowski has faced complaints ranging from physical aggression with other reporters to being “sexually suggestive” with female journalists. One anecdote: When he was working with the Koch Bros.-funded Americans for Prosperity super PAC, Lewandowski reportedly berated a female employee in public, using a very particular word for the female anatomy.
Lewandowski has been accused by Michelle Fields, a now-former reporter for the conservative Breitbart News, of aggressively pulling her from proximity to the candidate, to the point where she says he left bruises on her arms. Fields’ account has been backed up by another reporter at the scene, audio of the exchange and even video. Trump continues to stand by his campaign manager, even though opponents Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have declared that they would have fired their campaign managers for similar behavior.
15 March: Super-er Tuesday
Beware the Ides of March
Two weeks after the so-called Super Tuesday primaries proved to be a lot less decisive in determining the presidential nominee for either of the major political parties, the day we have dubbed Super-er Tuesday is finally here. Today marks the beginning of the crucial winner-takes-all primaries for the Republican candidates, wherein in the delegate-rich states of Florida and Ohio will allocate their delegates not proportionally, but entirely to the winner of a plurality of the state’s vote. (Not every Republican primary that occurs today or hereafter will be winner-takes-all, however – there will also be primary contests today in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean.)
Let’s take a look at these contests:
- Northern Mariana Islands: The least-populated area controlled by the United States, this commonwealth has already decided the victors in its primary. Having voted in favor of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary on Saturday, today the commonwealth’s Republican voters supported billionaire Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who took home 73% of the commonwealth’s vote and has won all nine of its delegates. The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands had endorsed Trump last week.
- Florida: Polling averages show the Sunshine State going for Trump by a nearly 20-point margin, and former secretary of state Clinton by a nearly 30-point margin. With heavy early voting that has already shattered records, previous poll trends bolster both of those candidacies. That’s bad news for native son Marco Rubio, who has won only a single primary actually held in a US state. He has a mean, hungry look. On the Democratic side, a silver lining for Vermont senator Bernie Sanders: unlike in the Republican primary, Florida’s delegates are assigned proportionately in the Democratic race, which means he won’t be entirely shut out even in the event of a South Carolina-like landslide for Clinton.
- Ohio: We come to praise Rubio, not to bury him. The Florida senator’s declaration that his supporters in Ohio who cared most about stopping Trump’s ascent to the party’s nomination should instead cast their vote for the Buckeye State’s sitting governor, John Kasich, has led to a collapse in Rubio’s polling numbers in the state, and coincided with a Kasich upswing that has him narrowly beating Trump in polling averages. Clinton is seen as a favorite here, but the potential for an upset in favor of Sanders in this anti-Nafta Rust Belt state is helping the senator’s fans feel the Bern.
- Illinois: Seen in polling as another delegate-rich site of yet another Trump victory, Illinois is more interesting on the Democratic side, where some are predicting a Sanders upset. Slim polling has Clinton up, but only within the margin of error.
- Missouri: Another predicted Trump victory (spoiler alert: most politicos are anticipating a Trump sweep of all non-Ohio primaries tonight) and another area of concern for the Clinton campaign. The most recent Public Policy Polling survey has Sanders up by a single point here.
- North Carolina: Texas senator Ted Cruz’s southern phalanx is likely to be officially DOA once the less-important Carolina (at least in national primaries, anyway) casts its votes for Trump. Clinton is seen as being on more secure ground here.
We’ll be offering minute-by-minute coverage of Super-er Tuesday, as well as last-minute pivots by campaigns to get out the vote. Stay tuned!
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