Voters receive their ballot to vote in the Super Tuesday election at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, March 1, 2016. (Reuters)
Super Tuesday is usually the day when a presidential hopeful can morph from frontrunner to presumed nominee.
Both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are poised to take that step once polls close across a total of 12 states.
While it’s unlikely Clinton will sweep the 11 states holding Democratic primaries today, polls show she will do extremely well against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, walking away with the lion’s share of delegates.
As usual, Donald Trump is sucking up most of the oxygen, as supporters and concerned establishment Republicans wait to see if the outspoken mogul will trounce his opponents Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — making the reality of Trump much more than just a television show.
2016: The Year Conventional Political Wisdom Was Turned Upside Down
Douglas E. Schoen & Judith Miller – FOX News
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally on Super Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio March 1, 2016. (Reuters)
Shred the political playbook…almost every assumption about presidential campaigns since the birth of modern politics in 1960, with the first televised debate and widespread use of TV advertising, has been debunked.
Endorsements matter. Apparently not this year. Almost no establishment politician endorsed Trump during the first two primaries. The only other celebrity politician who rallied to Trump’s side was Sarah Palin…Marco Rubio, the candidate who has garnered the most endorsements, has yet to win a primary and is unlikely to do so, despite his growing support from a still reeling Republican “establishment.”
You can’t run against the media. Trump has mocked this political platitude, repeatedly. If anything, one of the bumptious billionaire’s most reliable applause lines is his frequent declaration that the media are “terrible,” “among the most dishonest groups of people” he’s ever met.
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Stop Trump?
Hans Noel – The New York Times
If Republican Party leaders dislike Donald J. Trump so much, why haven’t they done more to stop him?
They should be able to. In “The Party Decides,” a book I wrote in 2008 with Marty Cohen, David Karol and John Zaller, we argued that the leaders of party coalitions have great influence over the selection of a presidential nominee….Either the theory was wrong all along, or at the very least, we need to think harder about why the party leaders can coordinate sometimes and not at other times.
Bernie Sanders Is Slip Slidin’ Away on Super Tuesday
Jeet Heer – The New Republic
Super Tuesday was never going to be an easy ride for Bernie Sanders. It’s an election day heavy on Southern states like Georgia, Arkansas, and Alabama, where Hillary Clinton enjoys a strong advantage, owing to her deep political roots in the region going back to Bill Clinton’s days as governor of Arkansas, as well as the support of the black political class and the African American church. But what made Super Tuesday salvageable for Sanders is that it also includes a few states where he could win. His home state of Vermont was a natural, but he also polled well in Colorado, Massachusetts, and Minnesota…
The worrying fact for the Sanders campaign is that in the run-up to Super Tuesday there has been a slippage in his poll numbers even in the states he was expected to win.
Marco Rubio and a Brief Theory of Trump Fatigue
Byron York – Washington Examiner
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio addresses supporters ahead of Minnesota’s evening Super Tuesday caucuses in Andover, Minnesota March 1, 2016. (Reuters)
Scott and Stephanie Sloan, of Purcellville, (Virginia) told me they came to the rally undecided, but decided after hearing Rubio that they would vote for him. I asked who were the candidates they were considering when they arrived, and they said Trump and Rubio….
“I think it’s just the circus that surrounds Trump is just a little bit over the top,” Scott told me.
“He’s a little too much crass, and not enough class, I guess,” added Stephanie. “He’s just a bit of a loose cannon….”
The problem is, Trump has an apparently infinite tolerance for uncertainty, disorder, and controversy. He can be comfortable and prosper in a campaign that just wears some of his voters out. By Sunday, the Sloans had hit that point — and that was before they heard what Trump said on the morning shows.
