Saturday was a big day for second-place candidates in the presidential race, as Ted Cruz grabbed morale-boosting wins in caucuses Kansas and Maine while Bernie Sanders saw victories in Kansas and Nebraska.
Their gains were, however, countered by victories for Hillary Clinton, in the Democratic Louisiana primary, and Donald Trump in Louisiana and a Republican caucus in Kentucky.
Here are nine things we learned from the day’s events.
- Marco Rubio may not be able to go the distance, as Ted Cruz manoeuvres into the “only candidate who can stop Trump” spot. Saturday featured several dismal showings from the Florida senator, who now is pinning all his hopes on his home state, which votes on 15 March.
- Bernie Sanders regained some momentum, picking up wins in (admittedly non-diverse) Democratic caucuses in Nebraska and Kansas.
- But Hillary Clinton maintained her commanding delegate lead, of around 200, with an easy win in the Louisiana primary.
- Donald Trump really, really wants “to take on Ted, one on one”. This reflects that Rubio’s only real purpose in this race now is to take Florida delegates away from the frontrunner.
- Cruz won by surprising margins in Maine and Kansas. Trump put the former down to Maine’s proximity to Cruz’s birthplace: Canada.
- The Maine Republican party likes to talk. A lot. It took maybe 15 minutes to get to the point with its results.
- Trump supporters alleged voter fraud in Kansas. Trump, however, didn’t reference it in his speech from Florida.
- What he did reference, however, was his worry that moderate conservatives might run a third-party candidate against him. He appealed to conservative worries about supreme court justices. “The Democrats would have an absolute free run,” he said.
- Trump has, he claims, “taken more questions from reporters than anybody who has ever lived”.
