Dear Commons Community,

There were several contests yesterday as we chug along in what seems like a never-ending presidential primary season.  On the Republican side, Donald Trump won Louisiana and Kentucky while Cruz had impressive wins in Kansas and Maine.  In the Democratic races, Clinton won Louisiana while Sanders won Nebraska and Kansas.  The camps of each of the winners can claim that they have the momentum to keep moving forward.  However, the subtlety of these outcomes bears noticing.

Hillary Clinton’s delegate lead over Bernie Sanders increased yesterday by winning Louisiana, the largest of the three state contests.  Sanders path to the Democratic nomination remains most difficult and unlikely.

Cruz’s two wins keep him viable as the “anti-Trump” for the Republicans.  He would need to maintain these types of results in the remaining primaries to deny Donald Trump a majority of the delegates before getting to the Republican convention in July.  Cruz commented on his victories as:

“I think what it represents is Republicans coalescing, saying it would be a disaster for Donald Trump to be our nominee and we’re going to stand behind the strongest conservative in the race,” Mr. Cruz told reporters in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, one of four states with Republican contests on Tuesday.

Boasting of his “breadth of support,” Mr. Cruz suggested that it was time for Mr. Rubio and Mr. Kasich to consider dropping out of the race.

“We’ll continue to amass delegates, but what needs to happen is the field needs to continue to narrow,” he said. “As long as the field remains divided, it gives Donald an advantage.”

The biggest loser yesterday was Marco Rubio who finished a distant third in Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana, and was fourth in Maine.  He has little hope of moving forward in the future primaries with the exception of his home state of Florida although the poll’s suggest he will likely lose there also.

More primaries this Tuesday!

Tony