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Possible party split weighs on GOP ahead of Super Tuesday
| USA TODAY | - |
WASHINGTON
- Republican voters weigh in on the presidential race in 11 states
Tuesday amid toxic rancor among the candidates and an emerging party
split over the prospect of a Donald Trump presidential nomination.
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David Jackson, USA TODAY While Trump predicted a series of victories that would all but end the contest, opponents Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Ben Carson made their final pitches ahead of Super Tuesday — and most argued that a Trump nomination would destroy the GOP's chances in the fall.
"A vote for Donald Trump tomorrow is a vote for (Democrat) Hillary Clinton in November," Rubio told supporters in Atlanta.
Cruz, campaigning in his home state of Texas, told reporters that a general election between Trump and Clinton would involve "two rich New York liberals" who agree on too many things.
While Trump leads the polls in nearly all of Tuesday's states — Cruz's home base of Texas is the exception — the Texas senator said the real goal is delegate acquisition.
"What's going to matter Wednesday morning is delegate count," Cruz said. "How many delegates do you have?"
The candidates are scrambling for 595 Republican delegates on Tuesday — nearly half of the 1,237 needed to win the presidential nomination. States holding GOP contests include Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.
In criticizing Rubio, Trump said the Florida senator "had to come up with something because he's getting creamed in the polls."
The winner of three of the first four Republican contests, Trump is starting to pick up endorsements from current GOP office holders, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former rival in the Republican presidential race, and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
Other Republicans, however, are questioning whether they will ever support Trump if he becomes the nominee.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., in a Facebook post, said he would never back the New York billionaire and would look for "a third candidate" if faced with the choice of him and Clinton.
Citing Trump statements ranging from praise for Russia's Vladimir Putin to pledges to "open up" libel laws in order to sue more journalists, Sasse said that "Mr. Trump’s relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation."
Rivals continued to hammer Trump on the stump Monday, including his reticence over the weekend to repudiate the support of former Ku Klux Klan official David Duke. Trump, who previously had disavowed Duke, said Monday he had a bad ear piece during a CNN interview and couldn't understand the question.
Kasich, the governor of Ohio, is not expected to garner many delegates on Tuesday, but predicts he will beat Trump when his home state holds its primary March 15.
Citing other upcoming primaries in states like Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, Kasich told CNN "there is a lot more to go ... But the key is Ohio. Ohio is a reset."
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, also a long shot on Super Tuesday, repeated his vow not to exit the race anytime soon. In an op-ed on the Fox News website, Carson said, "I refuse to play by Washington’s political rule book, or subjugate myself to the whims of the political class."
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