Recent News

Rubio wins District of Columbia convention

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has won the Washington D.C., Republican convention with 37 percent of the vote, delivering a small but much needed infusion of delegates to his campaign.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich finished a close second with 36 percent. Donald Trump came in third place with 14 percent and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had 12 percent.

Breaking down the GOP map

Tuesday might be the most decisive day of the 2016 GOP campaign. Depending on the results, one or more of the remaining candidates might be forced to drop out. And Donald Trump might be unstoppable.

If Trump rolls to victories in Florida and Ohio — the first states on the calendar this year that award every single delegate to the statewide winner — his lead becomes all but insurmountable. Without home-state wins, Marco Rubio and John Kasich would have little cause to continue.

Inside Cruz’s state-by-state plan to defeat Trump

It sounds like a nightmare for Donald Trump’s opponents: he sweeps Ohio and Florida on Tuesday and storms ahead with more than half the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination.

But for Ted Cruz, it would be a dream — if it forces Marco Rubio and John Kasich to quit — that delivers the two-man contest he’s been wanting for months.

Donald Trump keeps his lead in winner-take-all Florida, at 44 percent over Ted Cruz’s 24 percent and Marco Rubio’s 21 percent. In Ohio, Governor John Kasich is tied with Trump 33 percent to 33 percent, in two of the big winner-take-all delegate prizes up on Tuesday.

All eyes are on Tuesday’s primaries in five states, especially Florida and Ohio, for the clearest clues yet as to whether GOP front-runner Donald Trump can ride his momentum to the 1,237 delegates he’ll need to secure the nomination.

Tuesday’s primaries are important not only because two of them are happening in candidates’ home states, but also because it’s the first day that states can allocate their delegates on a winner-take-all basis-meaning whoever wins certain states going forward will get a much bigger delegate prize out of it.

Donald Trump has spent much of his campaign selling himself as a maker of great deals. But in the next phase of the campaign, the author of The Art of the Deal may be confronted with the ultimate dealmaking challenge, gaming the rulebook and horse-trading for delegates at what could be a contested convention. And if that situation comes to pass, it’s one in which his opponents have a distinct advantage going in.

National Review to endorse Ted Cruz

National Review, one of the country’s leading conservative magazines, will endorse Ted Cruz on Friday in a blow to Marco Rubio after its top editors and publisher decided that the Texas senator is the only candidate left who can defeat Donald Trump, POLITICO has learned.

“Ted’s the only one with a plausible path to stopping Trump,” National Review editor Rich Lowry told POLITICO, “either by getting a majority himself or denying Trump a majority and finishing close behind and getting it to convention.”